Dark
by LivForever
Summary: It only takes one person to cause so much darkness in somebody else's life.
1. Chapter 1

**Bellevue Emergency Room**

**5:47 PM**

"She's unresponsive."

"Can you hear me? We need you to talk. You have to say something or we can't help you. Ma'am? Ma'am, if you can hear me squeeze my hand."

The doctor felt the slightest squeeze of her hand and that gave her every bit of hope she needed. Her job was to save lives and that's what she planned on doing. There was a swarm of doctors hovered around the hospital bed. The woman lying on it wasn't moving, wasn't saying anything. Nobody had came in with her and everyone was wondering how she managed to get there. Her face seemed as if it was wearing a mask of blue and purple as the bruises started showing their depth.

"She's seizing!"

As the body on the bed began to convulse with violent thrashes. They doctors and nurses were like tiny ants raiding a picnic as they rushed around the emergency room looking for equipment to save this woman's life.

**SVU Squad Room**

**5:50 PM**

"Has anybody heard from Olivia?" Cragen questioned as he stepped into the room where all of his detectives were chatting, "I haven't heard from her all day. She was suppose to come in about an hour ago."

"Last time I talked to her was when she left for work last night," Amaro said closing the manilla folder that contained the case he had been intently studying.

Fin shook his head no, "I haven't heard from her."

"Me either," Rollins said shrugging.

Cragen turned to Munch, hoping to hear a different answer.

"Sorry Cap," Munch said, "Haven't heard from her."

Cragen sighed and wondered where his detective could have been. He walked back into his office and sat down at his desk where he took out his phone and dialed her number again. When he got voicemail for the umpteenth time he decided to leave a message, "I know it was a tough case Liv but, you can't screen my calls. I'm worried. Call me back ASAP. Cragen."

"Captain," Detective Rollins said stepping into his office, "I just got a call from the patrol man outside Olivia's apartment."

Cragen looked up from his desk and looked at Amanda Rollins in her deep blue eyes, "Go on."

Amanda sighed, "They caught Lee Harrison walking down her sidewalk. He went up to ring the buzzer but they got him before he could. They're bringing him in."

Relief washed over him. He thought he was about to receive devastating news. "Did they tell Olivia?"

Amanda shrugged, "They didn't say."

"Can you handle Harrison? I 'm going to go to her apartment. Make sure she's okay."

"Yeah, no problem," the younger detective smiled.

**Bellevue Emergency Room**

**6:00 PM**

The nurses wearing blue scrubs were gathered around the nurse's station talking about the patient that had last been brought in. None of them knew anything about her. She was a Jane Doe who needed saving. They didn't know what had happened or how she had gotten there or anything. All they knew was she was there alone.

"Surely she has someone we can contact,"one of the ladies said.

Another one of them shrugged, "We won't know until we get her name. It isn't like we can put her picture on the news or see if she's a missing person. Her face is unrecognizable."

"Poor Lady," the first nurse said, "Whatever happened to her must have been terrible."

"Lana called the police," one of them informed, "They are going to come question her when she's conscious again."

"You think she was beat by a husband or something?" another nurse asked.

The first nurse shrugged, "It's possible. We just don't know."

**Olivia's Apartment**

**6:23 PM**

Cragen was pounding his fist against Olivia's apartment door. He got somebody else from the place to let him in and he was determined to get Olivia to talk to him. "Open up Olivia," he instructed, "This isn't funny anymore!"

The lights were on inside and for a moment Cragen stopped and stood still to see if he could hear anything. He didn't hear any TV sounds, no music, no rustling of anything in the kitchen, and no footsteps.

"That's it," Cragen said finally having enough of Olivia's tactics, "I'm busting the door down." He took a step back and then charged forward using his shoulder to bust the door in. The chain hadn't been locked. "Liv?" he called seeing that the front rooms were empty, "Olivia, are you here?" She had to be there. The protective detail would have followed her if she had gone anywhere.

Cragen walked into the kitchen where he flipped the light on, not seeing anything unusual. He turned it off behind him when he left the room and walked to Olivia's bedroom. He flipped the light on and looked around for anything that seemed out of place. The covers on the bed were wrinkled up like they had been laid in recently and Cragen wondered even more where Olivia could have gone. He was going to turn around and shut the light off when he saw the glass cup resting on the ground with spilled water making a dark spot around it on the carpet.

"What the hell?" he asked his self. Now he had a gut wrenching feeling. Something was off. He knew that Olivia was pissed off about the case and pissed at him for putting a protective detail on her but, would she really be mad enough to run away? Cragen thought of all the places she would have gone. Clearly she wasn't going to make her way to the precinct. She wasn't seeing anybody. Elliot was out of the question. The bar maybe? That was the next place on his list of places to check. He turned the bedroom light off and walked out of the apartment, making sure to lock the door behind him.

**Bellevue Emergency Room**

**7:16 PM**

The police had arrived and were talking to the head nurse on staff, Lana, asking questions and getting any information they could.

"So, basically she came in all bloody and that's all you know?" Lt. Masterson asked.

Lana nodded, "Whatever happened tonight, that woman was brutalized. It's a miracle she's still alive."

Lt. Masterson nodded and asked another question, "Is she lucid?"

"Yes," Lana answered, "But she hasn't said a word since she got here. My guess is she's scared."

"Thank you Ma'am," Lt. Masterson said. He closed his notebook that he was taking notes in and then stepped inside the ICU room where the woman was lying wide awake on the bed.

"Hi," he said in a gentle voice, "I'm a police officer. Lt. Masterson. I'm here to talk to you about what happened," he continued, "Can you tell me your name?"

The fear rose in the pit of the woman's stomach and even though Lt. Masterson couldn't see her eyes because of how swollen they were, he knew she was crying. She was visibly shaking and that was only adding on to the pain she felt.

"I'm here to help," Lt. Masterson said, "Can you please tell me your name?"

**Louie's Bar**

**7:30 PM**

Cragen stepped out of his car and made sure his badge was prominent on his jacket. He wasn't in the mood to mess with anybody. He just wanted to go in, find Olivia, and get out. The bar wasn't as crowded as usual, there were only a few people here and there. It made it easy for him to look around for Olivia. She would stand out in a crowd like this. All of the people with long greasy hair wearing ripped jeans and shirts with holes in them... it was a good place for her to hide.

When he didn't see her anywhere he walked up to the counter and motioned for the bartender. "I'm looking for a missing person," he explained, "Woman, early forties, long wavy brown hair. Have you seen her?"

"Sorry," the bartender said, "No one here by that description. The place has been pretty dead tonight."

Cragen sighed, "Thank you."

**Bellevue Emergency Room**

**7: 17 PM**

"Ma'am, I really need to know your name if I want to help you. Surely you have somebody we can contact."

"My name is... Olivia Benson. Detective Olivia Benson."


	2. Chapter 2

**Bellevue Emergency Room**

**7:18**

"You're a detective?" Lt. Masterson asked with a raised eyebrow, "What precinct?"

Olivia shook her head no. She couldn't handle that right now. She was barely handling herself already. Every inch of her body ached with pain. She heard the doctors talking a short while earlier about how much pain medicine they gave her and she remembered one of them saying they couldn't give her too much until they got some information out of her. She blinked, feeling her headache worsen each time she did. It was like tiny people were inside of her head pounding their hammers over and over again.

"Is there anybody we can call?"

A tear slid down Olivia's cheek. She didn't want to talk. Her throat hurt. She was sure it was from all the screaming she had done only a short while ago. She couldn't think about now. She wouldn't. She needed to focus. She needed to be a detective.

Lt. Masterson sighed and realized that Olivia was too weak to be talking. "I can see that you're really tired," he said politely, "I'll come back tomorrow. Hopefully you'll feel up for talking." He excused himself from with room with a frown on his face.

Lana saw that Lt. Masterson left so she made her way into Olivia's room with some morphine. She knew that it was needed.

"I heard that your name is Olivia," Lana said entering the room, "My name's Lana. I'm your nurse."

Olivia didn't say anything. She lay there with her eyes closed because it wasn't like she could see well with them open.

"I imagine you're in a lot of pain," Lana said treading lightly, "I'm going to give you some morphine and hopefully it will help."

"Wait," Olivia said in a shaky voice, "I need to know what... what he did to me."

"Who Sweetie?" Lana asked, "Who did this to you?"

Olivia felt the lump in her throat grow bigger, almost as if a baseball was stuck there. She felt the bile rise in her stomach and she felt as if she might throw up. "What did he do?" she asked in a faint voice.

Lana sighed, she figured Olivia had been through hell and all she wanted was a simple answer. That Lana could do, "You have two broken ribs. You have a laceration on your face that required some stitches. Your left arm is fractured and you took a serious beating to your face. The bone just above your right eye has some damage to it. We aren't too sure about that yet."

Olivia cringed as Lana listed everything that had happened to her. She needed to hear it though. She needed to be prepared. "What else?"

Lana sighed, she didn't want to inform Olivia of this information.

"Please," Olivia begged, "I need to know."

"You sustained several tears to your vaginal area," Lana said sadly, "You needed a few stitches down there as well. You were raped. We did a rape kit before we stitched you up. You lost a lot of blood."

Olivia felt her heart stammering in her chest. All she needed was someone to say it and it made what happened real. Her breathing started to hitch and Lana noticed her heart monitor was speeding up quite rapidly.

"Olivia?" Lana asked, "Olivia, talk to me!"

_It was lying on the ground. It was right there. All she had to do was stretch her arm out a little bit further. She was trying to, she was so close._

_ "Oh no you don't," the man said in an evil voice. He walked up to the gun and kicked it further away from Olivia. "You were going to kill me?"_

_ By now Olivia couldn't even think straight she was in so much pain. The man in all black walked over to her, just to where her arm was stretched out in front of her and stepped on it as hard as he could. She cried out for someone to help her. Anyone._

_ "Shut the hell up!" he barked, "I haven't even started anything yet!"_

"Olivia!" Lana yelled one last time using a little more force.

"It hurts," Olivia cried. Tears were streaming down her bruised and swollen face and Lana felt her heart shattering for this stranger she didn't even know.

"I'm going to hang the morphine now," Lana said hanging the bag of fluids up on an IV pole.

"Everything hurts," Olivia repeated, "Please," she cried, "Kill me. Just kill me."

**Squad Room**

**7:45**

"Liv okay?" Fin asked when he saw Cragen step out of the elevator doors.

"I don't know," he said, "I haven't been able to find her. She isn't at her apartment and she isn't at the bar. She isn't here so where else could she have gone?"

Fin shrugged, "Maybe we should check the local hospitals? I don't like the fact that Harrison was on the street. We don't even know if the details were paying attention."

Cragen sighed, "I just want her safe," he said, "Amaro, you call the hospitals. Fin... you help him."

Everyone could see that Cragen was seriously worried about his detective. It wasn't like Olivia not to call or answer her phone even if she was pissed off. Fin tried to think of anywhere she might go but, Cragen had said he checked all the places. Olivia didn't have any family. She didn't have anyone. Why wasn't she at home?

"This is Detective Amaro from Manhattan Special Victim's Unit," he said into the phone, "Is there a chance you have a patient under the name Olivia Benson?"

_"I'm sorry sir. We don't have anyone by that name."_

"Thank you," he said and hung the phone up to dial a different number, "She isn't at Mercy."

"Hello this is Detective Tutuola from Manhattan Special Victim's Unit. Do you have a patient by the name of Olivia Benson?"

The other end of the phone was silent. "Ma'am?"

"Yes," she sighed, "We have a Detective Olivia Benson. Did she call you guys?"

"No," Fin said confused, "This is her co-worker? Is she okay? What happened? Let me talk to her."

"You should come down here," the lady said, "She's in bad shape."

Fin slammed the receiver down and hollered for the captain, "She's at Bellevue," he said quickly, "The lady I talked to said she's in bad shape."

Cragen grabbed his keys from his jacket pocket and headed toward the stairs with the rest of the squad following them.

"I hope she's okay," Amanda said from the backseat, "Sometimes doctors like to try and exaggerate things."

Fin sighed, "She sounded pretty serious. For Liv's sake I hope she was exaggerating though."

"I shouldn't have sent her home," Cragen said, "I knew something like this was going to happen. Son of a bitch."

Nobody said anything. What were they suppose to say? None of them knew what had happened to Olivia, they just knew she was in the hospital. Olivia hated hospitals. There was no way she would ever go to one willingly. They all figured it had to be pretty serious.

"Harrison didn't get inside," Amanda thought, "So she wasn't raped. That's good news. Right?"

Walking into the hospital, none of them were sure about what to expect. Cragen was jittery and all his nerves were acting crazy. He needed to see Olivia and make sure she was in one piece.

"I'm here to see Olivia Benson," he said flashing his badge, "Where is she?"

Lana was the one at the reception desk at the time and she stood up from her chair and gave them all a long look, "I'm afraid only one of you can go in there at a time. She's in ICU. I'll take you to her."

"ICU?" Amanda stuttered, "What happened to her?"

Lana sighed and looked down at the white tile floor, "Just... brace yourselves."

Cragen obviously was going to be the first one to visit Olivia. He spent hours looking for her and trying to reach her that night. The whole time he had been blaming her for not answering and at one point he even called her childish.

"That's her room," Lana said pointing to a room on their right, "She took a pretty bad beating. I gave her morphine just about a half an hour ago so, she's asleep. It's for the better."

"ICU..." Nick Amaro said sitting down in the ICU waiting room next to Fin, "Must be pretty bad."

Fin shook his head, "Olivia was the last person I thought would end up in the hospital. She takes risks but, that's what makes her a good detective. She's willing. She wasn't even on the job and she ended up here."

"She'll be fine," Amanda said hoping to believe herself, "I'm sure she will be just fine."


	3. Chapter 3

**Thank you for the reviews and 'guest' I appreciate the constructive criticism. **

**I strongly encourage you to abide by the rating with this story. **

**Bellevue ICU**

**Saturday 3:21 AM**

Olivia could feel that her morphine was wearing off. She was starting to feel the agonizing pain again and she wasn't able to stay asleep. She moved around trying to get comfortable but quickly regretting it when she remembered the condition she was in. She winced in pain and Cragen was quickly at her side.

"Liv," he said gently, "It's me. It's Cragen."

Olivia thought she was dreaming. She thought that if she opened her eyes she would realize that Cragen wasn't really there and she was all alone. She blinked her eyes open and there was Cragen, proving to her that her dream was actual reality.

"I am so sorry," he said getting a good look at her face for the first time, "I shouldn't have sent you home."

"Stop," she said in a hoarse voice, "It's not.. your fault."

Cragen didn't say anything. He was choking back the tears that were threatening to fall. Never in a million years did he think he would see Olivia like this.

"What are you doing here?" she asked closing her eyes again. She couldn't find a way to leave her eyes that didn't make her headache a thousand times worse. She just decided to leave them closed.

"I was worried," he answered taking her hand in his and rubbing across it with his thumb. "I went to your apartment to look for you and you weren't there. I checked every bar in town. Finally I had Fin and Nick call all the hospitals. We found you here."

"Olivia..." he said, "Everybody is waiting just outside in the hallway. If you aren't up to it I can tell them to go home but, they all want to see that you're okay."

Olivia swallowed heavily. She didn't think anyone would come. Amaro and her weren't really best friends and her and Amanda were only just getting close. Sure she understood why Cragen came and Fin and Munch too but, knowing they were there made her feel a little less alone in the world.

"In a bit," she said, "I need to give you my statement."

"You want to give it right now?"

"Yes," she said quietly, "I need to."

"Okay," he nodded, "Okay. Go ahead."

Olivia took a deep breath and she could feel the pain her ribs gave off. She took a moment and then began.

"I was pissed that you put a detail on me," she started almost laughing at the thought now. It had been irony. "They were parked at my place before I got home," she continued, "So I didn't even go inside. I was going to go to the bar."

"Take your time," Cragen said seeing that she was tensing up.

She nodded, "I was only a block away when this man came up behind me and grabbed me. He pulled me into the alley and pushed me down on the ground. I kicked him and then I got up to run... He tripped me when I was running and I fell. He took my handcuffs and cuffed me to the dumpster."

The thoughts were haunting her mind. She didn't want to remember. She couldn't stop them from forcing their way in.

_She felt the cold metal against her wrist as she realized what just happened. She had let him get to her cuffs and use that against her. What could she do now? As the man stood in front of her she was plotting of how to get away. She yanked her wrist down trying to break the cuffs but they weren't budging. The man walked closer to her and she reached her leg out to kick him again. He grabbed a broken pipe and hit her with hit._

_ "You son of a bitch," she yelled, "The cops will be here any minute. You aren't going to get away with this."_

_ He chuckled, "I think I am."_

"He ripped my shirt off," she said to Cragen, "That's when I knew..."

"What did he do Olivia?"

"He told me I was going to pay," she said, "Then he kicked me in the stomach. Over and over and over again. He... I... I was trying to fight back but after the sixth time I couldn't. I couldn't even breathe at that point." She stopped for a moment, gathering her thoughts and trying to keep the memories out. Just talk, she kept telling herself, don't remember.

"I'm tired," she said changing the subject.

Cragen sighed. He knew she probably was tired, both physically and emotionally. "We can do this another time," he told her, "Get some rest. I'll have the others come back tomorrow."

"You'll come back too?" Her eyes were closed now and her head was rested on her pillow because she didn't have the strength to hold it up anymore.

"I'm not leaving," he said and then he made his way out of the room, closing the door behind him.

**ICU Waiting Room**

**3:50 AM**

Fin was the first one to see Cragen walking toward them down the hall and he stood, hoping for good news.

"Is she alright?"

Cragen stopped in front of them and just shook his head, "You can't even tell it's her," he said sadly, "Not by looking at her. He really did a number on her."

"Was she...-?" the question came from the timid Rollins who knew about Olivia's previous sexual assault. They had talked about it one night and Rollins remembered how Olivia had to go through therapy.

Cragen nodded slowly, "She was."

Nobody knew what to say. What do you say to someone after that? I'm sorry and I hope you get better? No, that was wrong. The amount of terror and pain and recovering that rape victims went through wasn't fair. Not to anybody.

"I'm gonna kill the son of a bitch," Fin said suddenly overcome with anger, "Who was it? Was it that bastard Harrison? I swear I'll kill him!"

"She hasn't said yet," Cragen answered, "My bet's on him though."

**ICU Room **

**4:01 AM**

"Olivia," Lana said gently, "I need you to wake up for me okay? I need you to wake up! You're in the hospital. You're safe now."

_She felt the rocks digging into her back as she lay on the ground. Her vision was blurred and every time he thrusted into her she cried out in pain. "I like it this way," he said into her ear, "Don't plan on me stopping anytime soon."_

__The heart monitor was beeping louder now and Olivia was soaked in perspiration. Lana could see her chest was struggling to rise and fall. "Olivia!"

_"Oh Olivia," the man said, "This is the best I've ever had!"_

_ She begged and pleaded for him to stop. The pain she was feeling now was unbearable. He pushed himself inside of her again, using more force. She cried out with every ounce of energy she had left and suddenly her world went black._

Olivia woke up in shear panic. Her heart was going a thousand miles a minute and her tears were unstoppable. "I can't... breathe."

"Look at me.," Lana instructed using a certain forcefulness, "Breathe." She imitated the breaths she took hoping to get Olivia to do the same thing. "That's it. Just breathe. You're okay."

When her breathing was finally under control she tempted to wipe her eyes. Just touching her face made it burn and she decided she'd rather just let the tears fall.

"What happened?" Lana asked with concern written all over her face.

"I think I had a flashback... I need to see a psychiatrist. That's what people do when this happens right? They see a psychiatrist?"

Lana shrugged, "I'm not sure," she answered honestly, "I can contact one for you if you'd like."

Olivia nodded, "George Huang. Call him. Tell him it's Olivia Benson."

Lana nodded, "I'll be right back."

Lana had been a nurse for fifteen years now and she had yet to see a woman as strong as Olivia. She knew this case was going to be the case of her life. The one that changed everything. The one that would give her a different perspective and that she would never forget.

Olivia on the other hand didn't feel strong. She was trying, that was for sure. She wasn't going to let this define her. She was going to get through it so she could get back to her job. She was going to heal and put all of this behind her. She knew she couldn't do it alone and that's why she wanted to talk to Huang. He would know what to do and right now she needed to see familiar faces.__


	4. Chapter 4

**ICU Room **

**5:00 AM**

George had been fast asleep when he received the phone call from the hospital. He wondered what they would want with him at this hour in the morning. When Lana explained to him that there was an Olivia Benson, he immediately dropped the phone and rushed out of the door so he could get there.

"Olivia Benson," he said between breaths, "I'm George Huang. Where is she?"

Lana pointed to the room to her right where Olivia was lying in pain and crying. She wouldn't admit that she needed more morphine and Lana wished she would. "Prepare yourself," she said to him before he walked in.

"Olivia... it's me. George." He walked in slowly, not knowing what to expect. He hadn't even stayed on the phone long enough to hear why she was there and needed him in the first place.

Olivia slowly opened her eyes feeling the intense pain that the light caused. "Hey."

"One of the nurses called me," he said gently as he made his way to a chair, "What's going on?" He took a moment to look at Olivia. The bruises everywhere, the bandages and the stitches. He had a theory of what happened but he needed Olivia to tell him on her own terms.

"I'm not sure," she said in a vulnerable voice, "That's why I had them call you."

"Okay," he nodded, "Why don't you start with why you're here."

Olivia sighed, "It's really all I can think about," she said, "I could have fought harder. I shouldn't have let him cuff me..."

"Slow down," George said, "This wasn't your fault."

"Yes it was," she said with her voice cracking, "It was all my fault."

"Did you call me because you were raped, Olivia?" George didn't like being so blunt but, with a tough and stubborn patient, you usually had to use tough and stubborn tactics.

She nodded feeling the tears sting in her eyes for the millionth time that day, "I had a flashback. Or a nightmare. I uh- I woke up and I couldn't catch my breath. That's bad, isn't it?"

"You were scared," George explained, "You had a panic attack."

Olivia hated hearing somebody tell her she was scared. She wasn't scared or at least she wasn't trying to be. She just wanted to get this over with so she could go home and go back to work. She didn't want to think about it. If people would stop asking her about it then it would all go away. But she knew better. She knew she needed to talk about it and that's why she was trying her hardest to keep herself together.

"What do I do?"

"You talk," he answered with a sad smile on his face, "Just like you're doing now."

She nodded. Talking was easy. People talked all the time. Not about this though. This was different. She tried to think of it differently, like it was another victim who she was helping. She wanted to see her as somebody else. It would be easier that way.

"I just needed to get away from the case," she began. Her eyes remained closed as an effort to lessen her still aching head. "I was going to go for a drink. I was walking and the guy pulled me into the alley. I kicked him, hard. I was going to run, I didn't have my gun and uh- he tripped me. I fell and before I could get up he grabbed my cuffs... Then he started kicking me." The not remember part wasn't working. The scenes were replaying in her mind as she spoke about I and she didn't know how much longer she could keep it up.

"Take your time," George said gently, "We're in no hurry."

"I kicked me over and over again," she said, "I was fighting back the whole time... He uh- he cuffed me to a loop that was attached to the dumpster. I kept trying to pull away but, I couldn't. He ripped my shirt and... and that's when I knew." She sniffed and took a moment to collect herself before continuing on.

"I was yelling for someone to help me. He told me to stop and when I didn't he punched me in the face. He knocked me unconscious."

"You're doing good," George said.

"As I came to and my memory of what had happen sunk into my head I started to cry. I knew what was going on then... I felt him- inside me." Tears were now streaming down her face but she had to finish. She was being so strong, she couldn't give up now. "I fought against him and I tried... I really tried to get him off George."

"I believe you," he said rubbing his thumb gently across the top of her hand.

"When he was done," she said swallowing hard, "He grabbed something off the ground and started beating me with it. I could barely see but, I knew he had left. I was bleeding and I knew I had to get to the hospital so, that's how I got here." She finished and let out a deep breath she hadn't known she'd been holding.

"You walked?" he asked, shocked to hear this.

She nodded, "I didn't want to take a cab. I'm really tired..."

"It's okay," he said, "Get some rest. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Thanks," she mumbled as dreamland took control.

**ICU Waiting Room**

**6:00 AM**

"She was tired so, I told her to get some rest," George informed the others. He had stopped by for a brief moment on his way in to talk to them and tell him why he had came in.

"I can't believe this," Amaro said, "I'm suppose to have her back. She's going to hate me."

"She wasn't on the job," Cragen told him, "She's not going to hate you."

"I don't think she's going to be up for visitors anytime soon," George told them, "You guys should go home. Get some rest."

Fin, Nick, and Amanda all agreed they would go home and come back when Olivia was feeling a little better. Even if they hadn't been working together long it was sort of like they were already a family.

"Did she tell you what happened?" George asked seeing that Cragen was looking a little tired himself.

He nodded, "I almost lost it when I saw her like that. Words can't describe how terrible I felt that this happened to her. To see what someone did to her just..."

"I know."

Cragen sighed and leaned back in the chair, letting his head rest against the wall. It was going to be a long day.

**ICU **

**10:42 AM**

"Everything!" Olivia cried, "Everything hurts! Please," she begged Lana, "Please do something."

"I wish I could," Lana said, "We have to wait awhile before we give you any more medication because you have already had so much."  
Olivia cried out as the pain began to get worse. Her head was still pounding and her whole body ached. She could barely blink without wincing in pain and now her stomach seemed to have a burning sensation.

"Can you rate the pain for me?" Lana asked trying to make Olivia as comfortable as possible, "One through ten, ten being the worst."

"Ten," she gasped, "Please..."

Lana frowned and walked over to one of the cabinets and pulled out a rag. She ran it under cold tap water and brought it back to Olivia. "Maybe this will help," she said. She folded the rag neatly and placed it gently over Olivia's eyes. The swelling had gotten worse while Olivia had slept and if she knew that would happen she wouldn't have done it.

"Try to relax," Lana said to her as she held her hand.

Olivia took a few deep breaths to calm herself and try and ease the pain but breathing heavily only bothered her ribs and made the pain worse. She just couldn't win.

"Better?"

Olivia shook her head no but didn't open her mouth. She was trying to think of something, anything, to take her mind off of the pain she was feeling. She tried thinking of a movie but every time she would think about it the pain seemed to get worse. It was like she was experiencing it all over again.

"When can I go home?" Olivia asked in a serious tone.

Lana was stunned by the question. She wasn't sure if Olivia was being serious. "You have serious injuries..." she said, "You can't even sit up alone let alone walk."

Olivia sighed, she knew that was going to be the answer. She just wanted to get out of there. Being in the hospital made her feel helpless and she refused to let that happen. She figured Cragen was still out in the waiting room so she asked Lana to go get him. She wanted to talk about the case now so she could have something else to focus on.

"Hey," Cragen said sitting down in the chair next to the hospital bed, "Lana said you aren't feeling good."

"Yeah," Olivia said quietly, "I guess that's what happens when you get attacked."

"Liv..."

"I need to tell you who did this to me," she said barely audible.

"You know who did this?" Cragen's eyes grew wide. He wished Olivia would have said something sooner so they could have already picked up the bastard.

"Yes," she said with her voice cracking, "I... it was..."

Her heart rate monitor started speeding up again as a her breathing hitched and she started shaking.

"Liv?" Cragen asked, "Liv, talk to me!"

_"You shouldn't have locked up the wrong person! You wouldn't be here right now if you just would have paid attention to the damn case!"_

_ "Please," Olivia begged, "Don't do this. I'm sorry. I wish I could go back but I can't."_

_ "Don't worry, you'll pay."_

_ She doubled over and clutched her stomach with her hands as he hit her as hard as he could with his leather belt. "Ow!" she cried out. He hit her again. She was too weak to fight back now as she lay there in the cold of the night. _

_ "Stupid bitch." He spat on her before walking away._

"What happened?" Lana asked rushing into the room followed by two other people in blue scrubs.

"I don't know," Cragen stammered, "The monitor started beeping and she-"

"Olivia?" Lana said, "Olivia, I need you to listen to me, okay? It's not real. You're safe. Sweetie, you're in the hospital."  
Nothing.

_"I have to get to the hospital," she thought, "I have to get the rape kit. You can do this Olivia. Think of all the other victims. Think of them. Get off the ground." She sat up, crying out at the severe pain she was feeling. She took a moment and then stood up, clutching her side where he had kicked her. Slowly she made her way out of the alley, not letting go of her side. She knew she looked a mess but, she had to make it to the hospital. "The hospital," she thought, "You'll be safe there."_

"She's bleeding," Lana said seeing the crimson stain seep through the hospital gown, "Why the hell is she bleeding?"

Cragen stepped back, letting the nurses do what needed to be done. One of them lifted her gown up and exposed her stomach. Cragen felt like he was going to be sick. He backed out of the room and took a whole bunch of deep breaths.

"Why hasn't anybody seen this?" Lana demanded, "Who examined her when she came in?!"

Lana was furious at the sight she was seeing. Olivia's stomach was covered in welps and blisters from her attack. They were infected and bleeding and they hadn't even been patched up.

"Take her to the OR," she demanded, "NOW! I want her cleaned and patched up!"

The nurses scrambled to move the bed down the hall and into the operating room where they would clean out the wounds and make sure the infection hadn't reached her blood stream and done any more harm. There they would clean them up and patch them with clean bandages and hopefully Olivia could forgive them.


	5. Chapter 5

**ICU**

**Tuesday, 6:00 PM **

"Ouch," Olivia mumbled as she began to wake up.

Lana had sent Cragen home for the night to get some rest but she wasn't going anywhere. Even though her shift had ended she sat next to Olivia's bed in the chair.

"Hey," Lana said softly as she saw Olivia's eyes flutter open.

"What happened?"

"You were bleeding," Lana answered sadly as she stood up the check Olivia's vitals, "The nurse who was working with you when you first came in didn't examine you well enough. She missed the welps on your stomach. We cleaned them and patched them up. Some of them are pretty bad. They might leave scaring."

"The belt," Olivia mumbled, "It was because the belt."  
"Olivia, your captain said you know who did this to you."

Olivia bit her bottom lip, not again. She just wanted everyone to leave her alone so she could get on with it. "I... yeah."

"I'm sorry this happened to you," she said with her eyes glossing over, "It's terrible what that man did to you and I am going to be by your side until your well again."

"You're very nice," Olivia said with a hint of teasing in her voice.

"I try."

Since hours had passed Olivia was allowed to take some medicine for the pain. It wasn't as strong as the morphine but it helped a little and that was all Olivia could ask for. She had trouble getting comfortable in bed, every way she laid made her body ache. She talked to Lana for a couple hours just about random things, making her feel like a normal person again. They talked about TV and how they both wanted to go on vacation and they even talked about cheesecake at one point.

"You seem tired," Lana said noticing that Olivia was fighting to keep her eyes open.

"How long have I been here?" Olivia asked.

"You got her last night," Lana answered, "Around six or seven."

"Can I see a mirror?"

Olivia had yet to see what her face looked like and Lana wasn't sure that was a good idea. In fact she thought it was a very bad idea. Olivia still didn't look like herself. You could barely see her chocolate brown eyes through the swollen purple skin. She had bandages on her forehead from the stitches and it just wasn't a sight Olivia needed to see.

"I don't think that's a good idea," Lana said sadly.

"Please," Olivia sniffed, "I need to know what he did to me."

Lana sighed, "Olivia, I really don't think it's a good idea."  
"Please," she said again.

Lana wasn't going to give in. She already knew how strong a person Olivia was and what type of personality she had. She felt like Olivia was someone she could become friends with and look up to. Olivia was only a few years older than her, or so she assumed. She wasn't going to give Olivia a mirror and make her worry. It wasn't needed.

"I'm sorry," she said, "I can't. You can talk to your psychiatrist if you'd like but, I won't do it."

"Is he here?" Olivia asked.

Lana nodded, "He hasn't left. No matter how scary of a janitor we try to get."

Olivia's lips curled up in what almost seemed like a smile, "Can you get him for me? Please?"

"Not a problem. I'll be right back."

Lana headed out of the room and down the hallway to the waiting room where George was sitting in a chair with a newspaper in his hand. "Everything going okay?"

"She wants to talk to you," Lana said, "She's probably upset with me that I wouldn't give her a mirror."

"She wants to see her face?"

She nodded, "Yeah. I didn't think it was a good idea."

George nodded, "I'll talk to her."

Lana figured she would grab a bite to eat while Olivia was talking to George so that she wouldn't have to leave Olivia's side later on. She also figured she would pick something small for Olivia to eat since she hadn't ate in nearly two days.

"Hi Liv," George said walking in and closing the door behind him.

"Hi."

"Lana told me that you wanted to see a mirror," he began treading lightly, "How come?"

"I just want to see what I look like," Olivia answered honestly, "I know it's not pretty."

George walked into the bathroom that was in the room and took a small hand held mirror off the bathroom counter top. The mirror part was facing him because he wanted to make sure Olivia did it at her own time.

"Whenever you're ready," he said handing it to her.

Olivia took a deep breath and counted to three before letting it out and turning the mirror around to face her. Her reflection was ugly. She just sat there staring at it. Hating what she looked like. Hating that she ended up like this. Her breathing picked up again and she couldn't take her eyes off of the mirror.

"Olivia," George said staying calm, "Breathe. You have to breathe."

Olivia nodded and took a deep short breath trying to make it even. The mirror shook in her hand and George decided to pull it away from her. "You saw," he said, "No move on. It'll heal."

"I wasn't expecting that," she said after a few minutes.

"What were you expecting?"

"I don't know," she replied honestly, "Just not that."

"How do you feel?" George asked hoping to get an honest answer.

"I just want to go home."

George's heart broke for her. Lana said she would probably be in the hospital for at least three weeks. Her injuries weren't any joke and he wasn't sure if Olivia realized that. That's why he agreed on letting her see the mirror. She needed to understand that it was going to take time to heal and that the process wasn't going to be easy.

"It's going to take time," he said to her, "Your injuries need time to heal."

She sighed, "I need to get back to work. There are people out there who need me right now and I'm stuck here."

George was astounded at Olivia's thoughtfulness toward others. Here she was struggling to even talk and she was still worried about the other victims out there.

"What made you decide to come to the hospital?" George asked out of curiosity, "What made you do it?"

Olivia seemed to be thinking about the question, almost like she was searching for the right answer. "I knew that if I died... nobody would be able to teach Amaro and Rollins the ropes. Then I thought about all of the other victims who would suffer. I couldn't do that to them."

"So you did it for them?"

"Yes George," she said getting slightly agitated, "I did it for them."

"Why didn't you do it for you?"

Olivia turned her head away from him now and focused on the IV that was dripping fluids into her arm to keep her hydrated.

"Why Olivia?" he asked again.

"What do I have George?" she asked quietly. It was almost like a small child had said it. A small child who was scared and wondering why certain things had to happen.

"What do you mean?"

"When I go home, after work, I'm alone. There isn't anybody there. There isn't anyone to miss me when if I'm gone. So, what's the point? I have no boyfriend. No family. The only people I have are at work and even now those people are slowly going away. Before long George... there isn't going to be anyone." Her tears had steadily came back while she was talking and George understood where she was coming from. He too was used to being alone. He still had family left but they lived outside the country. He made time to visit them whenever he could but it wasn't the same.

"That's when you will step up," George said trying to think of the positive things he could fill her head with, "You have Cragen wrapped around your finger, Liv. When he retires, you're going to be the new captain."

Olivia wiped gently at her tears, careful not to tough the bruises.

"Think about it," he said, "Don doesn't have anybody either. He has you and his job."

Olivia knew all about Cragen being alone. They talked about it quite often when they were the only two left at the precinct late at nights.

"Cragen doesn't have every rapist in the area seeking revenge," she said in an angry tone.

"Is that what happened?" George questioned seeing that they were getting somewhere, "Was it someone you had dealt with on a past case?"

Olivia sighed, if only she would have kept her mouth shut. "I'm tired."

"You can't keep using that as an excuse Liv," he said keeping his voice steady, "You need to talk about what happened."

Olivia shook her head no and bit her bottom lip, this was much harder than she thought it was going to be. Why couldn't she just say his name? Why did she have to be afraid?"

"Who was it Olivia?"

_It hadn't taken her long to figure out who it was. Right when she was pulled into the alley she remembered his face. The once innocent face that she had made guilty. She messed up and he had paid the price. The case changed her in many ways. It changed the way she looked at her career and the effort she put into every person's case. She stepped it up, even if there wasn't much stepping left to do._

_ "You ruined my life," he said through gritted teeth, "Everybody thinks your some good cop hero. They don't know the real you." He kicked her again with full force in the stomach. She was in so much pain she couldn't understand anything else he was saying. She couldn't concentrate._

Her airway felt constricted again and she was struggling to open it back up. She didn't understand why this kept happening. She was doing everything right! Why couldn't she stop them?

"Olivia," George said sitting in front of her so she could see him, "You have to breathe. Do what I do, okay?" He made his breathing bigger so Olivia could see what he was doing and use that as a guide to do herself.

She tried to mimic his moves but, it wasn't working. She was too lost on this one.

_"I am so sorry," she cried, "You never should have been locked up."_

_ "But I was!" he spat, "For a long damn time!" He kicked her again, this time in the face, causing her to yell out in agony. She was sure she wasn't going to make it._

"Lana!" George hollered down at the nurse's station, "I need a sedative!"

Lana dropped the sandwich she was eating down on her plate and took off running to the supply room where they kept all of the medicine. She grabbed a needle and filled it with Hardol before rushing to the room Olivia was in and injecting it into her arm. When she was finally asleep and breathing well again, Lana sighed and turned to George.

"What happened?"

"She had another panic attack," he said, "This time I couldn't get her out of it. We were talking about who did this to her... She had a flashback."

Lana sighed and closed her eyes for a minute trying not to think of the scum who did this, "I'll keep an eye on her. You should go home and get some rest. You've been here a long time."

"You've been here a long time too."

"It's my job," she smiled sadly.

**Up next... Amaro comes for a visit. **


	6. Chapter 6

**ICU Wednesday **

**10:00 PM**

Olivia didn't know how long she had been asleep but she was sure it had been awhile. She felt a little different waking this up this time. She couldn't explain it but, she still felt tired. She let out a small sigh and turned to look at the clock on the wall when she saw Amaro sitting next to her bed.

"Hey," he said shyly, "I just came to visit..."

"Nobody has just came to visit," she said a little too harshly, "They all want information."

"I don't," he said, "I just figured you could use some company. I know how it gets being lonely."

Olivia didn't know what to say. They hadn't really been on talking terms so the whole case with Delia and Cragen where Nick was a possible suspect.

"I want to apologize," he said practically reading her thoughts, "I was just mad. I know you did what you had to do and I'm sorry I was such an ass."

Olivia rolled her eyes and a small smile spread out on her face, "You're not an ass. You're just a detective."

"Is that what you tell people when they call you that?"

"Sure is," she said. "How long have you been here?"

"A few hours," he answered, "Your nurse said you had been asleep for awhile."

Olivia nodded, "Could you get her for me? Please?"

"Sure," Amaro said, "I'll be right back."

Amaro came back with Lana by his side hoping that Olivia wasn't ready to kick him out just yet. He just wanted to be a good friend and make sure she was okay.

"Hey," Lana said with her usual grin on her face, "How are you feeling?"

Olivia blew the question and went straight to the reason she wanted Lana in the room, "What happened?"

Lana pretended that she didn't hear the question and began messing around with things like the heart monitor and making sure Olivia's IV was full.

"Lana," Olivia said quietly, "Did I-?"

"You had a flashback," she informed, "We had to sedate you."

No. This wasn't happening. Olivia was suppose to do this on her own. She was suppose to get better so she could go home and get back to work. She wasn't suppose to be getting worse. Why couldn't she control the flashbacks? Why couldn't she just win?

Tears were formed in Olivia's eyes and she tried her best to not let them fall, "When can I walk?" She wanted to take her mind away from all of that and worry about getting better physically.

"You have only been here three days, Olivia," Lana said, "Your fractures aren't healed. You say it still hurts to sit up."

"It does," Olivia said, "But it isn't going to get better with me just lying here in bed all day."

Amaro stood off to the side listening to everything Olivia was saying. He knew she was a strong woman, ever since day one at SVU. She was good with children and she knew how to handle the perps. She wasn't scared of a little risk. She was determined and Amaro didn't realize how much until now.

"Liv," he said stepping in, "Why don't you just wait a few more days? Your job will still be waiting when you're ready to return."

Instead of saying anything she grabbed onto the rails on the side of the bed. She was gripping them tightly and her knuckles were white. She pulled herself into sitting position, crying silently as the pain ripped through her body.

"Olivia, please lay back down," Lana said, "We all know you're strong. You don't have to prove that to any of us."

Olivia didn't listen. She sat there, holding her side to try and ease the throbbing pain.

"Olivia," Lana said again, "I know you're in pain. Just lay back down. You'll feel much better."

"Amaro," she said completely ignoring Lana, "Pena."

"Pena?"

She nodded squeezing her eyes closed because the throbbing seemed to intensify, "He did this."

Now Amaro understood what she was doing. "Olivia, lay back down. I know what you're doing. Putting yourself in pain doesn't make it easier to talk about."

She shook her head no and they could all see her tears, "He did this to me. He did this to me. He beat me and he... he r-raped me. He did this to me."

"Olivia," Lana said, "It's okay. It's over now. He isn't here. Your guys are going to get him and put him in jail. Please, lay back down."

Amaro took his cell phone out of his pocket and dialed Cragen's number. He waited for the answer and then explained what Olivia had said. Cragen told him to meet Rollins and Pena's place and bring him back to the precinct.

When Amaro was gone, Olivia finally stopped being stubborn and laid back down. She kept her eyes closed, not wanting to see the look of disappointment on Lana's face.

"What was that all about?" Lana asked as she wiped away the tears from Olivia's face with a Kleenex.

"If I didn't do what I did, he would never see me strong again. Nobody would. My job is to be strong. To save others. If I can't do that then there's a problem. The job is the only thing I have which is why I need to get out of here as fast as possible."

"You were raped," Lana reminded, "That man beat you. You couldn't even see the first day you got here because your eyes were so swollen shut. It hurts when you breathe because of your three fractured ribs."

"What are you doing?" Olivia asked angrily, "You think I don't know that? Why are you telling me this?"

"Because everyone else sees it. Everyone except you. When you came in here three nights ago I didn't think you were going to make it. You were in the worst possible condition and honestly I didn't have any hope. I had no idea you even managed to get here." Lana grabbed Olivia's good hand in hers as she talked, "But here you are. Three days later already being stubborn just like your friends said. You don't need to prove anything to them. They already know Olivia. They have seen it."

Olivia's tears fell again, this time they were from pain or anger. They from desperation. She just wanted this to be over. She didn't want to be in pain and she didn't want to have to feel helpless.

"Thank you," she said weakly, "I needed that."

Lana nodded and squeezed her hand gently, "Get some rest Olivia."

"Lana?"

"Yeah?"

"When can I go home?"

"Get some rest Olivia," she said again as she walked out of the room closing the door behind her.


	7. Chapter 7

**SVU Squad Room**

**2:00PM**

"I didn't rape Detective Benson!" Pena yelled slamming his fists down onto the metal table, "I hate her for what she did but, I just got out of jail! Why would I risk raping her to go back?!"

Amaro shook his head, he was tired of listening to Pena's crap. They were told to play by the book on this one because Pena had already been put away on wrongful count once. There was a knock on the window and Amaro took that as his cue to leave the interrogation room.

"Liv was right," Cragen said when Amaro shut the door, "He won't go to jail."

"Why?" Amaro asked, "If we have proof we have proof! That has to count for something!"

Cragen sighed and shook his head, "I didn't say we were giving up," he said sternly, "Keep talking to him. I'll have Rollins go back to the hospital and talk to Olivia. Fin went to go pick up the rape kit today so we should know more later."

Amaro nodded and headed back into the interrogation room where he continued to yell at Pena and listen to his lies.

**Bellevue ICU**

**3:30 PM**

"Is she okay?" Amanda asked Lana, who had just finished checking Olivia's temperature. It was Lana's day off and yet she still came in to take care of Olivia. The other nurses and people on staff just wouldn't take care of her like she would.

"She spiked a fever a little while ago so we gave her an antibiotic," Lana explained, "Hopefully it will lower her fever so she won't develop an infection."

"That's not going to happen," Olivia mumbled with her eyes fluttering open.

"Hey," Lana smiled at her, "You feeling any better?"

Olivia sighed and carefully hoisted herself up a little bit so she would be more comfortable. "I don't know," she answered honestly.

"Your fever is down from 102.2 to 101.2," Lana informed her, "That's good. It's making progress."

Olivia pushed the covers that were on top of her off, beginning to feel very hot and smothered. "It's hot in here," she complained.

"That's the fever talking," Lana said, "There isn't much I can do. Do you want some ice water?"

"Yes please," Olivia nodded.

"Okay, I'll be right back."

Lana left to go to the hospital cafeteria and get some ice in a cup and fill it with water while Amanda was keeping an eye on Olivia.

"So, what brings you here?" Olivia asked, not meaning to sound sarcastic or rude.

"The captain," she said walking closer to the bed side, "I need to ask you some questions."

"Shoot."

"Okay..." she sighed stuffing her hands into her pant pockets. "Did you see your attackers face?"

Olivia rolled her hands, stifling a laugh. Of course she saw her attackers face. "Yes."

"What time did the attack take place?"  
"I don't know," Olivia said honestly. That detail had slipped her mind. She couldn't remember what time it happened. She tired to think back to the last time she looked at her watch before it happened. She thought back to when she left work and how long the walk would have taken. She just couldn't come up with a time.

Amanda nodded, noting that Olivia seemed a bit stressed about not remembering. "Do you know what time you arrived at the hospital?"

"No," Olivia spat, "I wasn't focused on what time it was. I was focused on getting to the hospital before I passed out and died."

"I hate to do this to you Liv. I hate to be the one that makes you remember but... you know I have to ask these questions... If you need a break just let me know."

"I know," Olivia said lightening up her tone, "I know... I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize. It's okay... Now I need to know, did Omar Pena rape you?"

This was it. The first time she was asked the official question. She took a deep breath, preparing herself to answer. She opened her mouth to say yes but nothing came out.

"Olivia?

"Just give me a second."

Amanda took a step back, giving Olivia all the space she needed. She couldn't imagine how hard Olivia must have taking things right about now.

"Yes," she finally said.

**CSU LAB**

**4:00 PM**

"Anything?" Fin asked walking into the room where Olivia's rape kit had just finished going through the process.

The man in the white lab coat sighed. "There was absolutely no DN. I don't know how but, there wasn't. There isn't anything to prove that Pena did this."

"There has to be," Fin said, "There's always something left behind."

The man shook his head, "There were no fluids."

Fin sighed, he needed more information from Olivia if they were going to pin this on Pena. He walked out of the office and down into the lobby where it was quiet and pulled out his cell phone to dial Rollins.

**Bellevue ICU**

**4:10 PM**

"That was Fin," Amanda said hanging up her cell phone and shoving it back into her brown leather coat pocket.

Olivia looked at her with sad eyes, "What did he say?"

"He said that they didn't find anything in your rape kit," Amanda explained, "There were no fluids. Did he wear a condom?"

This wasn't suppose to be happening so fast. Olivia wasn't ready to deal with this. She couldn't. She was trying but this was just too fast. She couldn't bare to talk about the details now.

"Olivia..." Amanda said offering her a gentle smile, "I can't imagine how hard this is but, we need the information if we are going to lock him away. He deserves to rot in jail for what he did to you."

Olivia looked up the ceiling, trying anything to keep her tears under control, "No. He didn't."

Amanda sighed and scratched her forehead, "Olivia... did you take a shower?"

"No!"

"Then what happened?"

The tears were coming now and Olivia couldn't stop them. She was trying to think of anything, anything else to get her mind off of why there weren't any fluids. She didn't remember before what had happened but, the question and talking about it made the memories come flooding back.

_"Don't even worry about me getting caught Olivia," he said laughing evilly, "I plan on cleaning up my mess."_

_ He walked over behind the dumpster where there was a black duffel bag sitting. Olivia heard the zipper sound and Pena rustling around. He came back peering over her with a clear bottle. There was a clear liquid inside of it but, she wasn't sure what._

_ "W-w-what are you d-doing?" she asked as she shook against the cool ground._

_ "I told you, cleaning up my mess."_

"Olivia? Olivia? Can you hear me?"

Olivia jumped at the touch of Amanda's gentle touch and immediately apologized. "I'm sorry," she said between breaths. "I'm sorry."

"Why aren't there any fluids?"

"I'm sorry," she said with her voice cracking, "I can't. I thought I could but, I can't! This is killing me... I'm sorry. Tell them I'm sorry. I'm so so sorry."


	8. Chapter 8

**SVU Squad Room **

**5:00 PM**

"She said she couldn't do it," Rollins reported sadly, "She said she couldn't do it and she's sorry."

Cragen sighed and looked down to the ground. He couldn't keep Pena without proof that they did anything. Olivia wasn't stable enough at the time to give them anymore information that they needed.

"She needs a friend," Cragen said looking his youngest detective in the eyes, "Go be her friend. Not a detective not a co-worker. Just be her friend."

Rollins nodded and again set out to the hospital to try and talk to Olivia.

**Room 104**

**6:15**

"Are you glad that you're out of intensive care?" Rollins asked as she tucked a piece of her blonde hair behind her ear.

Olivia nodded, "Yeah. That means I'm one step closer to getting out of here."

Rollins gave her a very thin smile, "I'm not here as a detective," she said pulling a chair up next to the bed, "I'm here as a friend."

Olivia looked up at her with a confused look on her face.

"I just want you to tell me when you're ready," Rollins explained, "And know that I'm not judging you. I just want to help put this bastard away."

Olivia cleared her throat and turned her attention to the little fuzzy pieces that were hanging off of her blanket. She fiddled with them and pulled them right off as a distraction while she talked. "When he opened the bottle... I smelled bleach."

Amanda did her best to hide the sad expression on her face and be strong for Olivia. She held out her hand for support.

"He told me I would never be able to prove he did this to me... because he cleaned up. He made sure of that."

"Is that why you have burns... down there?"

Olivia nodded as a tear escaped from the corner of her eye, "He scrubbed really hard," she said as her voice broke. "I didn't think I was going to make it out of there alive..."

"It's okay," Amanda said squeezing her hand, "It's okay. You're safe now. You survived. That's what matters Olivia."

Olivia sniffed and wiped away at her tears, "What do we do now?"

"We call in ADA Cabot," Amanda simply answered, "She's going to try and get us a conviction."

**SVU Precinct **

**Cragen's Office**

**7:15**

"I can't believe this happened," Alex sighed as she paced back and forth the length of the small room. "I honestly can't believe the bastard did this."  
"We don't have much to go off of," Cragen informed her, "Because he was wrongly accused it's going to be that much harder to put him away."

"Well what we have so far is good enough to take him to trial," Alex said, "He's insane if he thinks he's getting away with this."

"Alex," Cragen said as she headed for the door. "This isn't going to be an easy trial. His lawyer will claim Olivia is lying to put him back in jail, like she did before."

Alex scratched her head, "I can handle this. I just need to talk to Liv."  
"She's at Bellevue," he informed, "Brace yourself."

**Room 104**

**8:00**

Alex tapped lightly on the door before entering. She knew that rape victims were frightened easily and she didn't want that happening to Olivia. When she walked in Olivia was sleeping and Alex figured Olivia needed the rest so she sat her things down quietly in one of the chairs.

She let out a sad sob as she saw the extent of Olivia's injuries. There were still dark bruises consuming most of her body and she looked so weak and lifeless. She turned back to her briefcase where the questions she would soon be asking Olivia were written down on a piece of paper. She needed to prepare herself mentally for what she was about to put Olivia through. The words on the page began to blend together as her tears blurred her vision. She couldn't do this. Olivia couldn't handle this yet. The question asking and preparing for the trail could wait.

She had just stuffed her papers back into her bag when Olivia began stirring.

_"I'm not pathetic…" she mumbled, "You're pathetic…"_

Alex knew she was having a nightmare and she wanted to help by waking Olivia up. She knew it wasn't what you were supposed to do though. It could cause more harm than good.

"Stop…" she cried out, "You're hurting me!" Tears were streaming down her face even in her sleep and Alex couldn't take it anymore.

"Olivia," she said in her everyday talking voice, "You need to wake up. Open your eyes. It's just a nightmare. You're safe. You're in the hospital. It's me, Liv. It's Alex."

Olivia opened her eyes and stared at Alex as her warm tears fell down her cold cheeks. "Sorry…" she whispered, "They just happen…"

"How often do they happen?"

Olivia shrugged, regretting the motion as pain ripped through her shoulder. She winced in pain. "Why?"

Alex sighed, "I just need to know… incase the jury doesn't take our side."

"What?" Panic filled Olivia as she heard those words escape her mouth, how could they not take her side? Her side was the truth! She was a decorated NYPD officer! She was a damn good cop and she wouldn't make this up! Hell, she had the injuries to prove everything.

"My injuries…" she said, "They won't disagree with that."

Alex sighed, really not wanting to do this. "The defense could claim they were self-inflicted…"

"Oh my gosh…" the realization dawned on Olivia that this wasn't even remotely over. The trial wasn't going to be easy just for the simple fact he had already been wrongly accused once. "You really think the jury will believe I did this to myself?"

"No," Alex answered shaking her head adamantly and reaching for Olivia's hand. "I don't believe that for a minute. But, I just need you to be prepared. I need to be prepared. I'm not going to let him get away with this."


	9. Chapter 9

**Room 104**

**10 AM**

"How's the pain?" Dr. Russet asked as he prodded gently around Olivia's ribs.

She shrugged. She wasn't in the mood for talking to day. She just wanted to be left alone. She wanted everyone to leave her alone and she wanted one day to herself where she could calm down and process everything. Everything was happening so fast and she felt like she couldn't keep up.

"Olivia?" Dr. Russet asked after he stopped examining her, "Are you alright?"

Olivia shrugged again making sure she didn't make eye contact. She focused her vision at the wall ahead of her. She was just too tired to try to fight it today.

Dr. Russet sighed and made a note in Olivia's chart before trying to get her to talk again. "I know this has been a lot," she began, "But if you don't talk to me than I have no choice but to send in a psychiatrist to talk to you."

Olivia didn't say anything. She didn't even acknowledge that Dr. Russet had spoken. She was just so tired. Physically and mentally and emotionally. She wanted to give up.

"Somebody will be in here to talk to you shortly," Dr. Russet said kindly before grabbing Olivia's chart and heading out of the room.

Now Olivia was alone again. Something she was used to. She let out a sigh and closed her eyes. Why couldn't people just understand what she was going through?

**Squad Room**

**10:30 AM**

Cragen had been at the precinct all night working on Olivia's case. He went over the evidence a million times and Olivia's statement. He needed to make this case full proof.

"Captain," Amanda said busting into his office, "Olivia's doctor just called."

Cragen looked up from the pile of paperwork in front of him and prayed for good news. "What did she say?"

Amanda sighed, "She said that... Olivia hasn't said a word all day. She hasn't acknowledged anyone."

Cragen sighed and shook his head slowly. "Um.. thank you for letting me know."

Amanda nodded and then walked further into Cragen's office and shut the door behind her. "Uh... it's been slow here today," she began saying as she stuffed her hands into her pants pockets, "You can go... to the hospital."

"I'm Olivia's boss," Cragen said quietly, "IAB is always up our asses and if I get too attached to this case then..."

"They don't have to know."

Cragen sighed. He wanted to go up to the hospital and see Olivia. He hadn't yet seen her since the first night and he wanted to talk to her. He wanted to make sure that she was okay which clearly she wasn't. He wanted to help her. He wanted to be there for her like a father would be for his daughter. He remembered the conversation they had not to long before her attack about she looked up to him like a father. She saw him as her father figure and in that moment Cragen couldn't have been more proud. He had seen Olivia as a daughter for a long time now and to hear that she felt the same love toward him meant a lot.

Cragen nodded, "Okay..."

**Room 104**

**Noon**

Olivia was lying in bed with her eyes closed but she wasn't sleeping. She had a million thoughts running through her head and she just wanted them to go away. Since she wasn't talking she hadn't asked for any pain medicine and right now she was in a world of hurt. She wanted to peak open her eyes to see who had just walked in but it didn't matter because she wasn't going to talk to them.

"Liv," Cragen said pulling a chair up beside her bed, "I know you're not asleep so, you might as well open your eyes."

Olivia sighed and opened her eyes to look at her captain. His eyes were sad and she knew it was probably because of her.

"You can't do this, Liv," he went on to say, "You know you can't. You have to talk. You have to get better. Think of all the victims who you have helped and will help once you recover."

This caught Olivia off guard. "Captain..." she whispered, "I can't come back."

Cragen reached over and took her hand in his, "You're stronger than you give yourself credit Olivia."

She shook her head. She didn't feel strong. She felt like the weakest person in the world right now and she didn't understand how anyone could say otherwise. Cragen was going to say something else but he was interrupted when Dr. Russet walked in. She gave Cragen a small smiled and then walked over to Olivia and checked her IV.

"Are you in any pain?" She figured she should ask again now that somebody had stopped by and talked to her. Hopefully this time she would respond.

"Yes..." she said in a voice just above a whisper.

"Okay," Dr. Russet nodded; progress. "Can you tell me what's bothering you the most?"

"Everything..."

"I'm going to go get your medicine okay, and then Lana will come in because she's working today. Maybe you can talk to her..."

"I just wanted a break," Olivia said just before Dr. Russet was out of the room, "I'm not crazy… or anything like that. I just… I just wanted a break."

Dr. Russet forced a small smile on her face and went on her way. The thought that Olivia was crazy never crossed her mind. She knew that Olivia had been through a lot and that eventually it would take its toll on her. Today seemed to be the day that she had just had enough. Dr. Russet understood. Really, she did. She had been through the same thing before and she hated when people tried to label her crazy.

"Amanda and Fin are working really hard on your case," Cragen said rubbing Olivia's arm gently, "So is Alex. I don't think she has slept a bit since talking to you yesterday."

"I didn't think before about how the defense could turn this around on me..." Olivia whispered as she looked at the wall, "It just wasn't a thought that crossed my mind. You know, we tell victims everyday that going to trial is good because they can get their story out... I tell victims that everyday..."

"Liv," Cragen said stopping her before she could continue, "The defense is crap. Once the jury sees those pictures there is no way they are going to believe you did it to yourself."

"I hope you're right," she said looking toward him again, "I really hope you're right."

Room 104

2 PM

"Hey Sweetie," Lana said walking into Olivia's room with her usual smile on her face, "Dr. Russet said you were in quite a bit of pain this morning. Are you feelin' any better?"

Olivia smiled sadly, "My eye is really bothering me today."  
"Let me take a look at it." Lana put on a pair of latex gloves and very carefully brushed her thumb across Olivia's right eye. It seemed a bit more swollen than what it looked like the previous day. "It seems a little swollen," she informed, "Did you sleep on your right side last night?"

"Yes," Olivia answered, "I guess that was a mistake."

Lana took her gloves off now and tossed them into the trashcan. Of course she wasn't going to agree with Olivia because 'mistake' was the wrong choice of words. Olivia hadn't known any better. "All of the blood probably went to that side while you were sleeping which is why it hurts today," she explained, "Is anything else bothering you?"

Olivia shrugged. The pain was still everywhere but it was more of an aching pain than a hurting pain.

"Is it okay if I check the burns on your stomach?"

Olivia nodded so Lana put a new pair of gloves on and lifted Olivia's gown up just far enough where she could expose her abdomen. At night Olivia would sleep without the bandages on so the wounds could get some air and then her morning nurse would redress them and Lana would change them when she came in for rounds at two. She gently pulled the tape and gauze off of the burns so that it wouldn't hurt as bad. "It's healing nicely," Lana said as she applied a cold white cream.

"When he was hitting me... with the belt," Olivia said with her eyes squeezed tight, "I just kept thinking that I wasn't going to get out of there alive. He was hitting me over and over again and... I... I was in s-so much pain..."

Lana tried hard not to let the tears that had pooled in her eyes fall as she reapplied the dressing to the wound and pulled Olivia's gown back down.

"When I finally stopped I knew I had to get to a hospital..."

"What you did was miraculous," Lana said tossing her gloves into the trash bin, "Really."

Olivia gave her a sad smile, "I did it for all of the victims who couldn't..."

"Even when you're down you still think of others," Lana said as she typed some information into the computer onto Olivia's chart. "You can get through this."

"You think so?"

Lana looked over to her and nodded, "Know so."

Olivia laughed for the first time in days. "I'm glad someone does."


	10. Chapter 10

**Room 104**

**6 PM**

"Okay," Alex said grabbing a sheet of paper from a manilla envelope that she had extracted from her briefcase, "The trial is scheduled for Thursday."

"Today's Wednesday," Olivia stated, "They won't even let me leave the hospital. I can't even walk. How am I suppose to attend the trial?"

"A wheel chair," Alex said quickly, just like ripping off a band aid. "It will work out best for us. The jury will be able to plainly see that he hurt you."

Olivia sighed. The thought of being in a courtroom full of people while she was in a wheel chair made her stomach churn. People would look at her like she was weak and how was she going to argue with that?

"Let's just get this over with," Olivia sighed, "Before my headache gets too bad."

"You have a headache?" Alex asked, her voice filled with concerned.

"It's not... too bad," Olivia explained, "I just want to get this over with though."

"Okay," Alex said glancing over the sheet of paper, "If at any time you need a break just let me know."

"Okay."

"Miss Benson, is it true that Mr. Pena has been in jail after being wrongly convicted and you were one of the detectives on his case?"

"Yes," Olivia said quietly.

"Can you explain to me what happened?"

"The officer who collected evidence... was color blind. He thought the scarf was green but it was red. Pena must have heard someone say the color green so he admitted to it."

Alex nodded and glanced up from the paper to see how Olivia was holding up. She didn't seem to bothered too much yet but her head seemed to be really hurting. Alex could tell by the way she squeezed her eyes shut tight and rubbed her temples.

"Liv," Alex said gently putting her work files away, "Do I need to get Lana in here?"

"Mmm."

"I'm getting Lana," Alex said taking Olivia's non-answer as being serious.

Alex went into the hallway to find Lana and Lana had been with another patient but quickly finished up so she could get to Olivia.

"What's the problem?" Lana asked rushing into her room, "Alex told me you had a real bad headache."

Olivia's face was flushed with pain and she didn't understand what was happening. Her head was pounding and she had never experienced a headache like this before.

"I can give you some more medicine," Lana said, "But it just seems to be a tension headache."

"How are your ribs feeling?"

"Aching," Olivia answered, "But I can handle it."

Lana gave her a sad smile, "Okay, the medicine is going now." As the clear liquid slowly dripped into Olivia's IV, she slowly grew more fatigued and she finally drifted into a slow slumber.

"Her trial is in two days," Alex explained to Lana who was checking Olivia's vitals just to make sure she was doing okay. "Do you think she will be any better physically?"

"Honestly," Lana began wrapping her stethoscope around her neck, "No. She took a pretty brutal beating. Her bruises haven't seemed to have faded any... her ribs are still cracked and although they don't bother her much during the day they really hurt her at night and in the morning. We haven't worked on walking yet because I don't want to hurt her anymore than she already is."

Alex sighed. She hated hearing how much pain Olivia was in. She knew that Olivia masked most of it but Lana wasn't lying. Olivia had to be in a world of hurt. "That could help our case," Alex said, "There's no way the jury is going to believe that she would do this to herself."

Lana tucked a loose piece of hair that had fallen from her pony tail behind her hair and sighed, "The night she came in... she was so unrecognizable. It wasn't until I learned her name that I remembered her... she's really a great person. She doesn't deserve this."

"You knew her before this?"

Lana nodded, "She was the lead detective on my case..."

"You were raped..."

Lana nodded, "She was there with the me every step of the way. The rape kit... the trial... at night when I woke up from a nightmare. She helped me get my life back together."

"Does she remember you?"

Lana shrugged, "I'm sure she has a lot on her mind right now. It doesn't bother me if she doesn't... she's been through a lot more than I went through."

Alex picked up her briefcase as an escape so Lana wouldn't see her glossy eyes, "I'm sorry," she whispered. Then she turned to leave.

**Squad Room**

**7:30 PM**

"How's Liv holding up?" Fin asked Cragen as he slouched down into the chair that sat in front of the captain's desk.

He sighed, "I talked to her earlier today and she said she was holding up fine but... I don't really believe her."

"She'll be fine," Fin said, "She's Benson. She can get through anything."

Cragen shook his head. He didn't doubt that Benson couldn't get through this. He didn't doubt how strong he was. However, he did doubt the jury. He was sure Pena would have a damn good lawyer and he didn't know any of the people on the jury so he wouldn't know how their mind's worked. He was praying that they could see that Olivia wasn't making this up. She was pulled into an alley, attacked, beaten to near death, and raped. How much more did they need? They should be able to see it as soon as they took one look Olivia. The bruising that swelled her face. The way she breathed because breathing regularly hurt. They way she would be in a wheel chair... He cringed at the sight. Olivia was like his child and cases with children were never easy.


	11. Chapter 11

**Room 104**

**5 AM**

"Ow!" Olivia complained. Sweat beads had formed on her forehead and her eyes were squeezed tightly. Her head was hurting her so bad that she could barely think straight.

"Sweetie, what's going on? Tell me what hurts." The sweet voice had came from Lana who was doing everything she could to keep Olivia comfortable. She had gotten a cold rag and placed it on her forehead, wiping away the sweat and trying to keep her temperature down.

"My head..."

Lana sighed. She didn't understand why her head was bothering her so bad. The trauma team should have done an initial C/T or MRI when Olivia had came in. The doctor on the case said they had and everything was clear. Lana was starting to get suspicious now so she promised Olivia she would be right back and went out to the nurse's station. "Hey Becky, can you hand me Olivia's chart?"

An older woman with gray hair filed through the stack of patient charts and pulled one out labeled: O, Benson.

"Thank you," Lana said. She flipped the folder open and scammed through the papers quickly looking to see if there were any results from a brain scan. There were none. There was hardly any information in the chart besides the burns and everything that Lana had written in it herself. She couldn't believe it. She was going to find out who was in charge of Olivia's case and she was going to give them hell. That would come later though because right now Olivia needed an MRI. She tossed the chart back over to Becky and rushed back to Olivia's room.

"We're going to get an MRI of your brain Olivia," Lana informed her, "I'm going to need you to lay still for that. Do you think you can?"

"Yes," Olivia mumbled through her tears, "Find out what's wrong with me..."

"I'm working on it," Lana whispered to herself.

Lana wheeled the hospital bed to the MRI room where she had a team of nurses and techs help her get Olivia situated into the machine. Once she was in Lana told her that they would find out what was causing her so much pain and that they would fix it. Olivia nodded and then took a deep breath before Lana pushed the button, sending her inside of the tube.

Lana couldn't stay in the room so she went next door with the other doctors and waited impatiently for the scan to pop up.

Olivia was trying to think of anything to take her mind off the pain and that's when she remembered.

_"Hello," Olivia said warmly when she noticed a small young woman walk into the precinct. The woman squeezed her jacket tight around her and looked like she had been roughed up a bit. "Can I help you?"_

_ "I was raped."_

_ "Why don't you sit down here," Olivia said gesturing the woman to sit down in the chair next to her desk. "Can you tell me your name?"_

_ "Lana. Lana Holland."_

_ "Okay Lana," Olivia said scribbling her name down on a piece of paper, "Can you tell me what happened?"_

_ "I was walking to my car after work," Lana said with tears pouring freshly from her eyes, "I was just about to unlock my car when I looked into the window and saw a man behind me... he grabbed me and told me not to scream or he would shoot... he had a gun..."  
"You're doing great," Olivia conducted. "What else?"_

_ "He pulled me to the staircase... and he r-raped m-me."_

_ "Did you see your attackers face?"_

"There it is," the radiologist said pointing to a spot on the screen, "Subdural hematoma. She needs surgery right away."

Lana sighed, "Somebody page Dr. Craig!" Lana rushed into the room where Olivia was and pressed the button for the bed to slowly push itself out of the tube. Olivia was in tears still and Lana hated that she had to break the news. Hadn't Olivia been through enough?

"I was the lead detective on your case," Olivia whispered.

Lana nodded, "Yeah. You were. You helped me get through it," she said willing her tears away, "Now it's my turn to help you get through this. Olivia, you have what's called a subdural hematoma. It's dangerous and we need to do surgery right away."

"Brain surgery?"

Lana nodded, "You don't have anything to worry about. Dr. Craig is the best neurosurgeon in the state and he is going to be performing your surgery. After he's finished your headache should go away."

"My trial..."

"The trial will be post boned. This is an emergency, Olivia. I know you're scared but you need the surgery. When I was... raped, you knew what was best for me. This time, I know what's best for you. Please, have the surgery."

"Okay," Olivia said wiping her tears.

"Okay," Lana sighed. "I'm going to take you back to your room and Dr. Craig's team of nurses is going to get you prepped and ready. When you wake up I'll be right by your side."

"Okay," Olivia agreed again. "Hey, Lana?"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you."

Lana gave her a sad smile and then pushed her bad back into room 104 where Dr. Craig and his team of experts were waiting. When they wheeled Olivia away, Lana's knees weakened and she plopped down into a chair. She wanted to cry and scream, and break something. She didn't understand why bad things happened to good people. She never would understand. She also didn't understand how the doctor who first saw Olivia when she came in through the trauma bay didn't take any notes or offer very good medical care. Now was the time she was going to look into that and whoever she was looking for was awaiting a serious yelling.


	12. Chapter 12

**ICU**

**10AM**

Lana had been sitting in the plastic chair in the ICU room for the better half of an hour now. She stared off at the rain through the window and listened as the machines kept Olivia alive. There were some complications during the surgery and they weren't sure whether Olivia would come out unscathed. As Lana sat there, she prayed. She was pulled out of her thoughts when she heard a rustle of the sheets that Olivia was lying on. She turned her attention and almost cried tears of joy when she saw that Olivia was awake.

"Don't try to talk," Lana said seriously to her, "You still have a tube in your throat from the surgery. I'll check your vitals and then we'll see about taking it out. Your surgery went well. They fixed everything that needed to be fixed. You're going to be okay. Don't worry about anything."

Olivia's heavy eye lids dipped close again as Lana began checking her vitals and making sure she was in stable condition. She was which meant the tube could come out but, she wanted Olivia to sleep so she decided to just wait.

Another hour later and Olivia was waking up again. This time Lana took out the tube so now she was able to talk.

"Ouch," she complained, "My head."

Lana looked down at her watch and saw that Olivia was due for another round of morphine in just a few minutes. "I'll get you some pain medicine. You'll be okay."

"I really hope this is my last complication," Olivia mumbled after she had gotten her pain medicine.

"I hope so too," Lana said rubbing her arm.

"Do you think I'll win the trial? I have to... I have to see him go to jail."

"I think you'll win," Lana assured her, "Why don't you get some rest, okay? You're going to need a lot if you want to get out of here any time soon."

Olivia was going to protest but she realized how tired she actually was. She was exhausted both physically and mentally. She just wanted a break.

When Olivia had finally drifted back off to sleep, Lana decided now was a good time to find the doctor on Olivia's case when she first came in. They were going to get a serious lash out because Lana was pissed at their pitiful quality of work. She quietly left the room and went asking the nurses if they knew where Dr. Smith was.

"He's in surgery right now," one of the ladies in blue scrubs answered, "OR 2."

"Thanks," Lana said graciously. Him being in surgery wasn't going to make her wait. If he was treating all of his patients as poorly as he treated Olivia then he deserved to be fired. She took the elevator up the three stories to the operating room and scrubbed in so she wouldn't contaminate the area. "Dr. Smith?"

"Yes?" he asked looking up from his exposed patient, "Can I help you?"

"Uh, you were the doctor in charge of Olivia Benson, yes?"

"I don't remember," he said going back to working, "Why?"

"Well, her chart says you were," Lana went on to say, "And that's about all it said. Why didn't you write anything down?"

"Look," Dr. Smith said in an annoyed tone as he stepped away from his patient and sat down the scalpel, "I'm a busy man. I'm a trauma surgeon and in case you haven't realized it yet there are a lot of traumas in New York."

"That doesn't mean you do a half-ass job!" Lana argued, "You barely looked over that patient before you sent her off to someone else. She had burns all over her that you left untreated because you didn't do a full exam. Trauma surgeon my ass."

All of the nurses standing around in the room were staring at her, not knowing what to do or say. None of the nurses had ever dared to get in an argument with a surgeon, especially an attending. Desperate times called for desperate measures though and all Lana wanted to do was help the person who had helped her.

"Can we talk about this later?" Dr. Smith asked through gritted teeth, "My patient is lying open on a table and I promised her children she would make it out okay."

Lana clenched her jaw tight, afraid she might say something she might later regret. She turned around and let the door slam shut behind her. She would go back to Olivia's room and wait for her to wake up again.

As Lana sat in the uncomfortable plastic chair she began thinking about Dr. Smith. She had always heard great things about him from others around the hospital and she had never had any problems with him before. Why now? He seemed to care a big deal about his patient who was only getting her appendix taken out; so why not Olivia? Why wouldn't he do a simple thing like a full exam? Unless... no. She got rid of that thought just as soon as it came into her head. There was no way Dr. Smith was in on what had happened to Olivia. He had been at the hospital all night... talking on the phone in a hushed tone...

Olivia began waking up again and Lana was immediately at her side, checking her vitals yet again.

"Feeling any better?"

Olivia nodded with her eyes still heavy and squinting from the light, "A little. How long have you been here?"

Lana smiled, "Only a little while." It wasn't a complete lie. She had left the room to go and accuse Dr. Smith. "Olivia, I need to ask you something. Are you up for it?"

"Sure," Olivia said forcing her eyes to stay open, "What is it?"

"The night you came in... do you remember the doctor who initially treated you?"

Olivia glanced away from Lana and stared at the wall, trying to form a face in her head. She just couldn't do it. She remembered hearing distant voices and seeing lights but, that's it. "I don't remember," she said sadly, "Why?"

"It's nothing," Lana said making herself busy, "I was just wondering..."

"I think it was an older man," Olivia said, "If that helps. He uh, he kept saying something but I didn't catch all of the sentence. Something about..." she froze for a moment and Lana wondered if she was okay.

"Olivia?"

She startled out of whatever she had been thinking about and turned her attention back to Lana again. "He said something about the wrongful convicted... Oh gosh... I never..." The heart monitors that were hooked up to her began dinging as her heart rate sped up.

"Olivia, it's okay," Lana said, "It's okay. Calm down, okay? Just breathe." Olivia nodded and slowly took in a deep breath and let it out. She did that a couple times and finally the monitors went back to normal. "I'm going to call your partner, Nick Amaro? We need to tell him about the doctor on your case. Everything's going to be okay, Olivia. I promise. You just close your eyes and rest. I'll be right here the whole time."

Lana held Olivia's hand until she was sure Olivia had fallen back into slumber from the medications she was on. She sent a text message to Nick and told him to meet her at the hospital because she knew something about Olivia's case. He replied saying he would be there no later than half an hour.


	13. Chapter 13

Olivia's Room

10 PM

"You're telling me her rapist is Dr. Smith?"

Lana shook her head. "No. I'm telling you that he has something to do with it. He didn't take care of her the night she came in and earlier when she woke up, she remembered him saying something to her about the wrongful convicted. She stared getting panicked so I calmed her down the best I could. She was in no state to be like that. She was just waking up from major brain surgery."

Nick sighed and turned to Amanda who did the same. "How did the surgery go?"

"It went good. She should be okay. She just needs some time to recover. I just wish this could all be over for her. Gosh," Lana sighed, "She's been through so much these past few days."

"Is Dr. Smith in the building right now so we can talk with him?"

Lana nodded, "He should be finishing up his surgery any minute now."

"Do you think he knows where Michael Pena is?"

"I don't know," Lana said, "I'm going off very little here giving him to you guys. I just want justice for Olivia."  
Nick and Amanda waited outside the operating room where Dr. Smith was just cleaning up from the surgery he had been performing. Both of them were beyond pissed that someone had done this to Olivia and they weren't going to stop at nothing.

"Hey," Nick said crossing his arms in front of his chest when Dr. Smith walked out of the scrub room.

"Can I help you?" Dr. Smith questioned.

"Sure. We're detectives with Manhattan Special Victims Unit." Amanda held up her badge as proof while Nick continued to talk. "Can you tell us why you didn't properly take care of your patient, Olivia Benson?"

Dr. Smith scoffed and shook his head as a grin spread on his face. "Look, I do my job. It's the intern's job to check all that baby stuff. I'm just a general surgeon."

"Can you tell me why you were talking to Ms. Benson about the wrongfully convicted?"

Now Dr. Smith's face grew serious. He was sure that Olivia wasn't going to remember that conversation. She had been so out of it and delirious from the blood loss. "When Ms. Benson came into the hospital she was unconscious. Chances are she got confused because I have no idea what you're talking about." He started to walk off but Amanda put her hand to his chest and stopped him. "We're not done yet."

Dr. Smith sighed angrily, "What more do you want?"

"How do you Michael Pena?"

"Who?" Dr. Smith looked genuinely like he had no idea what they were talking about. Either he was a really good actor or... maybe Olivia did get some things mixed up.

Nick opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted by a phone call. "Amaro."

"Olivia's awake and asking for you."

"I'll by right there." He hung up the phone and gave Dr. Smith a dirty look before walking away with Amanda following closely behind.

"Hey," he said forcing a smile onto his face, "How are you doing?"

Olivia shrugged slightly, "I think I'm getting there."

"You look good," Amanda commented.

Olivia knew that was far from true. Her bruises and cuts and cracked ribs seemed to be taking an eternity to heal and that was very frustrating for her. She smiled and said thanks.

"Olivia, we need to go over the night of your attack," Amanda said gently as she stepped closer to the bed.

Olivia grimaced.

"What do you remember once you got to the hospital?"

"Not much," Olivia answered honestly, "I remember when I got here... I fell. A doctor came over to help me and... I don't know what happened. Then I remember waking up a little later and someone was talking to me. I can't put a face with it. Or a voice for that matter."

"What did they say?"

"He said this is what you get for putting the innocent in jail." Olivia's voice seemed to grow smaller as she talked. It was like she was a little kid all over again trying to explain something serious to a group of adults.

Amanda sighed and looked to Nick. If Olivia couldn't identify Dr. Smith as the one who said that to her then they didn't have any leverage on him.

"I'm sorry."

"No, Liv, don't apologize," Nick said reaching for her hand, "This isn't your fault. We are going to get him."

"Alex thinks we can win the trial."

"We can," Nick assured her, "YOU can. You can do this Olivia. We all have faith in you. You brought yourself to this hospital that night after everything that had happened. You saved yourself Olivia. For the victims. For the countless amount of people who couldn't get away. You are the strongest person I have ever met. So you can't give up now. The trial is in a few days and you'll be prepared. Alex is going to stop by tomorrow morning and go over things with you. You can do this."

Tears were sparked in Olivia's eyes and suddenly she felt bad that she had ever been short with Nick. When he first came to SVU she was upset and angry and she shouldn't have taken it out on him. He was a good person. She squeezed his hand and gave her his best smile. He was right; she could do this.

"Sorry guys but, visiting hours are over. Olivia really needs to get some rest," Lana said.

"We'll come by tomorrow," Amanda said giving Olivia a hug, "You hang in there."

"You can do it, Liv," Nick reiterated before following Amanda out of the room.

**Up Next is the trial! Will Olivia win?**


	14. Chapter 14

**Unknown Location**

**8 AM**

"You see, Olivia," the person laughed evilly, "Nobody would ever guess that I was the bad guy. I did nothing besides point the evidence to everyone else. Sure... I mean, Pena attacked you. I paid him. I set the whole thing up."

Olivia looked up from where she was tied to a chair. She had tear streaks down her cheeks and her eyes were red and puffy from her tears. Someone she thought she trusted betrayed her and now she wasn't sure if she would make it out alive. "Why?" she sobbed, "Just please... tell me why."

"You said you would find my rapist," Lana said through clenched teeth, "You lied. You got the wrong guy. I figured it out a few years ago when I got a note saying he was still out there. He still watches me. You didn't do your job."

Another tear escaped down Olivia's cheek. "I am so sorry... but Lana... this isn't right. Why didn't you tell someone when he started stalking you?"

"It doesn't matter."

**Hospital**

**8:30 AM**

Alex had showed up early in the morning at the hospital hoping to go over the trial again with Olivia. They had more evidence to use against Pena now and Alex was sure they were going to win the case. She just wanted to make sure that Olivia was prepared for the questions Pena's lawyer would ask. When she reached Olivia's room she was surprised to find it empty. She was sure she had the right room. She took her phone out and dialed Cragen.

"Cragen," he answered.

"Hey, it's Alex. I'm at the hospital and I was going to go over the case with Liv but, she isn't here. Did she go home?"

"No," Cragen answered, "Not that I know of. Her nurse said it would still be a few days."

"She's not here," Alex stated. "I'll check with the receptionists. Give me a minute." She walked to the desk that was in the middle of the floor and asked one of the ladies in blue scrubs if they knew where Olivia Benson was. Most of them said they didn't know.

"I think I saw her leave with Lana a bit ago," one of them spoke up, "I'm not sure where they were going."

Alex sighed, "Thanks." She put the phone back to her ear and told Cragen what the nurses told her.

"Try her cell," he instructed, "I'll try Lana's."

**Unknown Location**

**8:30 AM **

"Lana," Olivia said after trying to get her wrists free, "You can make this right. You can. Just... let me go. You have to let me go."

Lana shook her head as she paced back and forth across the room. She was sweating and nervous that someone would find them. She tried to cover her tracks but at the last minute she got panicked and just rushed things. Now she wasn't too confident in her decision.

Olivia was trying to think of anything and everything to get Lana to calm down and let her go. She knew that Lana was upset but she dealt with these types of things all the time. Why was Lana any different? She was going to say something when her head began hurting again. She knew it was just from the surgery and she looked toward the clock on the wall to see what time it was. It was time for her pain medicine again. No wonder.

Lana almost had a defeated look on her face when she looked from the clock to Olivia. "I can't control anything anymore," she said as she stopped pacing in front of Olivia. "I don't know why I did this... I don't know how I could do this to anyone... I'm sorry..."

"Lana, you can still make this right."

"I can't."

"Yes. You can," Olivia assured her, "Just take me back to the hospital and nobody has to know about this."

"You won't tell anyone?"

"No," Olivia said willing her tears to stop, "I promise."

**Hospital**

**10:00 AM**

The nurse who had told Alex that she saw Olivia with Lana had assured her that they would be back soon. Alex had no reason not to believe her so she sat in Olivia's room and waited. When she saw Olivia finally limp up with the help of Lana she stood up.

"Where in the hell have you been? I've been waiting here for almost two hours! We're suppose to go over your case!"

"I'm sorry," Olivia said out of breath giving Alex a telling look, "We were... busy."

Alex caught the look and then turned to Lana. "Sorry, we have to go over some things and there isn't suppose to be a third party. Do you mind?"

Lana shook her head forcing a smile on her face, "Not at all." She left the room and closed the door behind her.

Alex took one look at Olivia and knew something wasn't right. "What's going on?"

Olivia let out another deep breath, "Lana kidnapped me," she said easing herself onto the bed, "You have to get me out of here, Alex. She blames me because we didn't put away the right rapist on her case but, Alex, she identified him. I went off everything she said." Olivia was getting upset and her ribs were feeling the ache from all the strength she had used in them so far today. She was growing tired but there was no way she was spending another night in the hospital. "Take me to the precinct. Please. Alex, I can't do this anymore. I can't."

"Okay," Alex said, "Okay. Just take it easy okay. I'm going to go ask for your discharge papers. I'll be right back."

"No!" Olivia shouted, shocked at herself for saying it. "Don't leave me."

Alex was genuinely shocked. Even after her attack Olivia hadn't been this... scared. "Liv, I'm just going to go get your papers. It will only be a minute. I'll be right back."

"She p-paid him to rape me," Olivia chocked out.

Alex swallowed the lump in her throat. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. Lana had been so nice to Olivia and had cared so much about catching the guy who did this to her. "It was the perfect setup," Alex whispered.

Olivia nodded, a tear escaping down her cheek. "She pointed the finger at Dr. Smith so she would look like the good guy. That's why she took care of me... after the damage was already done."

"Liv, this changes everything," Alex said saying what Olivia already knew, "I have to talk to Pena and his lawyer."

"I know," Olivia said, "Just please get me out of here. I need to get out of here..."

"I'm going to take you to the precinct, okay? I'm not taking you home because you still just had major brain surgery yesterday."

"Believe me, I know," Olivia said attempting to smile. "I can feel it."

"You okay?"

Olivia snorted at the question. She wasn't okay. She was terrified. She trusted Lana and she had been completely let down. Lana had done this to her. Lana was the reason she was in the hospital and had cracked ribs and bruises and had to have brain surgery.

"I don't want to be here any longer," Olivia said again, "Please, Alex. Please get me out of here."

"Okay, okay," Alex had stopped by Olivia's apartment on her way over and picked up a pair of gray sweatpants and a t-shirt in hopes of brightening Olivia's spirit and get her out of a hospital gown. Looks like now those were going to come in handy. She handed them to Olivia and helped her get dressed with the fragile condition she was in. Then she helped Olivia limp to the nurse's station and asked for her discharge papers. Luckily, Lana wasn't around to stop them.

**Some of you guys should be detectives! You knew Dr. Smith wasn't guilty!**


	15. Chapter 15

**Squad Room**

**11:00 AM**

"Olivia?" Nick turned around to see Olivia walking into the squad room with the help of Alex's arm around her waist. She looked like she was about to fall over so he rushed over to assist. "What are you doing out of the hospital?"

Olivia didn't answer. She sat down at her desk in her chair and took a few deep breaths.

"Lana," Alex said turning to Nick.

"What about her?"

"She's behind all of this. She admitted to Olivia that she paid Pena to attack her."

Nick was dumbfounded, "Why?"

"Olivia was the lead detective on Lana's case. Apparently they got the wrong guy because Lana started getting letters claiming he was still watching her. We need to check this out because now I'm not sure we have a strong enough case against Pena."

"What?" Olivia hadn't thought about Pena getting off the hook. Just because Lana gave him money and told him what to do didn't mean he had to do it. He knew what he was risking. He still did this to her and there was no way she was letting him off the hook. "Look at me," she said attempting to stand but falling back down into the chair. "I can't even stand up because of what he did to me. I haven't looked in a mirror lately but I'm sure I look terrible. He did this to me... he almost killed me. I don't think you understand how... scared... I was that night."

"Liv," Alex said gently, "Believe me, the last thing I'm going to do is let Pena off the hook. I just need to make sure I get all my facts here so I don't get sandbagged during the trial."

Olivia sighed. "The letters that Lana said she received," she began going into cop mode, "Has anyone heard anything about them?"

"It looks like she reported them to a different precinct," Amanda said speaking up. She typed something into her computer and then she spoke again. "The letter says 'I'm watching you, bitch.'"

"Did they find any prints or anything?"

Amanda shook her head, "Not a thing."

"So he just showed up at her house and taped a letter to her door? She lives across from the corner market," Olivia said, "Can we pull the security footage from that day?"

"I'm on it," Nick said already halfway out of the room.

"Liv, maybe you should lay down," Amanda said easily.

"Yeah," Alex agreed, "You've had a long day already. You just had brain surgery for Pete's sake and... I'm really worried about you."

"I-" Olivia was going to protest but then she realized just how exhausted she really was. This had been the first time since her attack that she had done much physical work. It still bothered her ribs when she walked, let alone trying to get free from a tied rope. "Wake me up when Nick gets back."

Alex had sat in Olivia's chair and talked to Amanda while they waited for Nick to get back with any information from the security footage at the market. Hopefully they would be able to see exactly who was doing this. If not... Olivia's case would be more complicated than they originally thought. They would try to say that Olivia put away the wrong guy on purpose just like she did with Pena.

"Care to fill me in?" Cragen asked coming back from his lunch break.

Alex sighed and followed him into his office. "Don... I'm not sure we're going to win this case anymore." She sat down in the chair across from Cragen's desk and crossed her legs.

"Why not?"

"Because the defense is going to claim that Olivia put away the wrong people on purpose. They are going to make up this whole story that isn't true and... frankly, we don't have the evidence to prove otherwise."

Cragen sighed and ran a hand down his face. "What do we do?"

"All we can do is hope that Amaro can give us something. Maybe the jury won't be blindsided and will be able to see that Olivia's injuries are severe and not self-inflicted."

"All of this is because I put a detective detail on her," Cragen sighed, shaking his head.

"Don... don't go there."

"If I just would have listened to her she would have gone home and none of this would have happened."

"Don, wait, why did you put a detail on her?"  
"A letter came the other day in the mail for her and it was a threat. Somebody saying that they were watching her."

"I'm watching you, bitch?"

"Yes," Cragen answered, "How did you know?"

"Lana's letter said the same thing."

"So, do you think Olivia did put the right guy away and this is somebody else?"

Alex nodded, "I'm no detective but, that's what it seems like to me. I mean, Lana pointed her attacker out. Liv said he admitted to raping her."

"We need that footage," Cragen said, "If we can get the guy then we can solve it all."

"I can't send Lana to trial..."

"Why?"

"Technically she never did anything. She didn't harm Olivia in any way. She actually took care of her."  
"She didn't check her burns on the initial night she came in. She told me it was Dr. Smith's fault but he wasn't even involved."

"I can't prove that," Alex told him, "We have nothing on Lana besides the kidnapping and even that's a stretch."

"Kidnapping?"

Alex forgot that she didn't tell him that part. Olivia made her promise on the ride to the precinct that she wouldn't tell anybody because Olivia didn't want to cause any more trouble. That was a promise Alex didn't mind breaking though because Lana had hurt her good friend and she wasn't going to let her get away. She would charge her with a minor misdemeanor if it meant she would get a scratch on her record.

"Yeah... Olivia was late because Lana kidnapped her. Olivia said she took her to a house on the highway and tied her to a chair. Told her that she had to pay because she put away the wrong guy. Olivia kept telling her that she could make things right and I guess Lana came to her senses because she was brought safely back to the hospital."

"Son of a bitch."


	16. Chapter 16

**Precinct**

**2:00 PM**

"I got the tapes," Nick announced, walking into the squad room and holding it in the air. He took the tape straight to the viewing room so they could pop it into the tape player. He hit play and then hit the fast forward button until he came to the right day.

"Okay," Fin said crossing his arms, "Now we wait."

They watched the tape intently looking for anyone who even went near Lana's house. The day was almost over and they were just about to give up when a man with a manilla file folder stopped in front of Lana's apartment building. The man stood there for a moment looking around and then he walked in.

"That's got to be our guy," Amanda said.

"He looks familiar," Fin said getting a closer look, "We should take this to Morales. See if he can run it through the fancy face recognition software."

"I'll go with you," Nick said, "Liv's my partner and I feel like I let her down still..."

"You couldn't have done anything," Fin assured him, "She was off the clock."

"I knew she was being threatened," Nick shrugged, "I'm suppose to have her back."

"Come on," Fin said ejecting the tape from the video player, "I'll let you do the honors of getting this guy."

Nick followed Fin out of the room and then out of the precinct. Alex had excused herself because she had to go to court and that left Amanda to take care of Olivia. She didn't mind. She would rather help Olivia than try to run the precinct like Cragen. She was just about to go see how Olivia was doing when she heard a faint cry coming from the squad room. She peeked her head around the corner to see what was going on. There was a little girl no younger than the age of ten. She had pin-straight blonde hair and brown eyes.

"Can I help you, Sweetie?"

The girl looked up at Amanda, startled. She nodded her head shyly and began fidgeting. "My Mommy always tells me to go to the cops when something bad happens..."

Amanda nodded and wondered what happened to the little girl. "Did something bad happen to you?"

The young girl looked up and nodded while more tears spilled down her cheeks.

"Can you tell me what happened?"

"My Mommy's boyfriend hurt me..."

"What did he do?"

"He hit me when he found me hiding in the closet."

"Why were you in the closet?"

"Because I was scared."

"Why were you scared?"

"He was on top of my Mommy and he was hurting her."

"What's your name, Sweetie?"

"Alison Montgomery."

"Do you know where you live?"

Alison nodded. "Am I going to be in trouble?"

"Why would you be in trouble? You didn't do anything wrong, Honey." Amanda gave Alison a sad smile.

"I did," Alison said turning her gaze toward the ground, "I hurt him just like he hurt my Mommy."

Amanda was now confused. "How did you do that?"

"I shot him."  
Amanda got Alison's address and then took one of the fill in officers at the precinct and headed to Alison's house. Inside was a bloody mess. There were two bodies lying lifeless on the floor just like Alison had described. There was a woman who Amanda assumed was Alison's mother. Then there was a man who looked seemingly familiar. Amanda was sure she knew this man. It couldn't be though... Pena was on house arrest until the trial... She took her phone out of her pocket and immediately dialed Cragen's number.

"Pena's dead," she explained. "He was the man Alison shot."

She heard Cragen sigh, "I'm not sorry he's dead but... now Olivia's trial is over."

"You want to tell her?"

"Yeah," Cragen said, "You just take care of Alison and her family."

Amanda called Nick and Fin and filled them in. They continued to look for the man who was leaving Lana letters while Amanda took care of Alison and Cragen took care of Olivia.

**SVU Precinct**

**5:34 PM**

"Liv," Cragen said gently so not to scare her.

"Hmm." Her eyes slowly blinked open and she turned her attention to Cragen. "What's wrong?"

"Liv... a little girl came into the precinct a while go and she told us that a man hurt her Mommy. She ended up killing the man."

"You need me to work the case?"

"No," he shook his head quickly, "No. No. The man she killed was Omar Pena."

Olivia took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Well...that's... good?"

"Alex says it means Lana gets off the hook. We don't have a confession on tape and she's nowhere to be found. We don't have Pena to say Lana told him to do this."

Olivia shrugged, "Honestly, Cap, I don't even care anymore. He's dead and I just want to move on. I need to move on. I'm getting better and sure, it'll take time for these wounds to heal but... I can do it. If all of the our victims can go on with their lives than so can I."

Cragen smiled from ear to ear. Olivia Benson was the toughest person he had known and her saying that just then made him even more sure.

"How about I take you home?"

"That would be great," she smiled. She hadn't been home since before her attack and right now her bed was calling her name. Everything was over. Pena was dead and he wouldn't be around to hurt her again. She knew that Lana wasn't a bad person and that things just got tough but, she didn't ever have to see Lana again. She wasn't worried about it anymore. She was finally realizing that things were going to end up okay.


	17. Chapter 17

"I'll be fine," Olivia assured Cragen. They had just gotten to Olivia's apartment and Cragen had helped her to her room so she could lay down and get some more rest. Her ribs were aching and she had a small headache but the pain was at least bearable. She couldn't imagine going back to the hospital now. She would handle recovering on her own.

"Do you want some water or anything before I go?"

"I'm okay," Olivia smiled, "Thanks."

Cragen gave a curt nod and then let himself out of the apartment, locking the door behind him. Once in the quietness of her home Olivia could finally feel herself relax. She took a slow breath and let her head sink back into the soft cotton of her pillow. She closed her eyes and let sleep overtake her.

Back at the precinct, Amanda was sitting at her desk staring off into space with Fin finishing up some last minute paper work. He looked over and saw that Amanda was staring off into the distance and he wondered what was wrong.

"Y'okay?"

Amanda jerked back to reality, "I just have a feeling.."

"What would that be?"

Amanda shook her head and let out a sigh, turning her chair around so she was facing Fin. "Lana wanted revenge, right? Because Olivia never found her attacker?"

"Yeah," Fin shrugged, "So what?"

"She never got the chance because Olivia left with Alex," Amanda explained, "What if she's not done?"

"I'm sure Olivia can handle herself," Fin said, "She's bigger than Lana."

"She's also injured," Amanda reminded, "Her ribs not to mention she just had brain surgery not that long ago!"

"We can put patrol outside her apartment," Fin offered.

"And have her be pissed off at me?" Amanda asked, "I don't think so. I'm going to go over there. Make sure she's okay."

"I'll come too," Fin added before scribbling his signature down on a few more papers and then stuffing them into his desk.

At Olivia's apartment, she was having trouble falling back to sleep after having a nightmare about her attack. She hadn't been able to get them under control yet and that was getting under her skin. She thought that since her attacker was dead, the nightmares would go away. She sighed and turned over so she was lying on her right side, facing the window. She tried to close her eyes again but she just couldn't get the images out of her head. It's like she was there all over again. The cold hard concrete penetrating into her back. She could feel the fear. She nearly jumped out of her skin when her cell phone vibrated from her nightstand.

"Benson," she answered shakily.

"Hey, Liv," Amanda said, "You okay?"

"Yeah," Olivia lied, "I'm okay. What's up?"

"Fin and I are standing outside your door. Will you let us in?"

Olivia wondered what they were doing at her apartment but, she figured she could use the company. "Yeah, I'm coming." She hung up and went to the front door to let them inside.

"What are you guys doing here?"

Amanda shrugged, "Just wanted to see how you were holding up."

Olivia led them to the couch in the living room and they all sat down. Olivia crossed her arms in front of her chest. She wasn't sure if she wanted to tell them about the nightmare she had had.

Fin was able to read her like an open book though because he was the one to ask her what was wrong. "You had a flashback?"

Olivia looked at him, "How did you know?" she asked quietly.

Fin sighed, "You're shaking..."

Olivia looked down at her hands and realized that she was shaking. She hadn't realized it before. She just couldn't seem to get the thoughts to leave her head. Why now? She thought everything was under control. It didn't seem fair.

"When Cragen told me that he was dead... I thought... I thought that it would be okay. That I wouldn't have the flashbacks anymore and that I wouldn't be scared..."

"It's okay to be scared," Amanda said gently.

A lone tear escaped down Olivia's cheek. "I'm terrified," she admitted. "I keep going back to the alley and it happens all over again..."

Amanda had tears in her eyes too. "You're safe now," she reminded, "He's never going to hurt you again."

"I know that," Olivia said, "I do but..." she sighed, "It's hard."

"I can't imagine," Amanda said quietly, "But we are all here for you, Liv. If you need anything. I can stay here tonight... if you'd like. Maybe you would be able to get some rest."

Olivia nodded, "I can't say yes..."

"Then don't," Amanda said as she began slipping her shoes off. Fin smiled. He really liked that Amanda had joined their team.

"I'll see you two ladies tomorrow then," Fin said getting off of the couch. "Goodnight."

Fin had only been gone for a few minutes before he came back, knocking on the door for someone to let him in. He had a serious look on his face and Olivia and Amanda both wondered what could have happened in the time of two minutes.

"I just saw Lana outside," Fin said swallowing the lump in his throat, "She has company."

Olivia felt like she was going to be sick. All she wanted to do was sleep and now Lana was back, still seeking revenge.

"Company?" Amanda asked, "What do you mean by that?"

"She has people with her and they're all carrying guns. I just saw them across the street," Fin explained quickly, "I'm going to call Cragen and request backup. Get Olivia to the bathtub."

"I'm not a civilian!" she argued.

"You just had brain surgery two days ago and let's not forget why you had to have the surgery in the first place. I'm not letting anything happen to you, Olivia," Fin explained while waiting for Cragen to pick up his phone, "Now please just go with Amanda."

Olivia couldn't argue with how much Fin cared about her and if she was being honest she wasn't fit enough to fight off any crazy killers or gun wounds at the moment. "I just want this to be over," she whispered to Amanda.

"I know, Liv. I know."


	18. Chapter 18

Fin knew that the chance of back up getting to Olivia's apartment before Lana was slim to none. He had to do something. He wasn't going to let Olivia get hurt again. She had been through plenty in the last few weeks. He took his gun out of his holster and turned the living room light off. Lana didn't know Olivia's house like Fin did so that would be an advantage.

No matter how hard Olivia tried to hold back her tears she just couldn't do it. She was tired of it. She wanted it all to be over and she just wanted to sleep. She was exhausted.

"Hey," Amanda said in her usual southern draw, "It's going to be okay. Fin's going to take care of it and he already called for backup."

Olivia nodded and reached to wipe her tears. She knew that already but it didn't stop her worrying. She wouldn't know what to do if anything happened to Fin.

In the living room, Fin could hear footsteps just outside the door. He held his gun out in front of him; waiting for the fight.

There was a knock on the door and then Fin heard Lana's voice.

"Olivia, it's me, it's Lana. I just want to talk. Let me in?"

Fin rolled his eyes. All he needed to do was keep Lana outside of the apartment until backup had arrived. He could hear the sirens in the distance.

"You called the cops?" Lana asked from the other side of the door. "You shouldn't have done that."

Fin could hear the anger in her voice and he gripped his gun tighter; aiming it toward the door. "You take another step toward that door and I will shoot," Fin said.

He heard Lana chuckle and then he could hear faint whispers coming from just on the other side of the door. He didn't know what they were planning. After that, everything seemed to be a blur.

Cragen had showed up on scene and got Lana and her posse before they could escape. He enjoyed slapping the metal cuffs over Lana's wrists. He passed Lana to another police officer and continued to make his way up the steps to Olivia's apartment. He saw Fin lying on the ground but he didn't see any blood. "Fin?!"

"I'm okay," Fin said weakly as he ripped his shirt off exposing his bullet proof vest.

Cragen let out a sigh of relief. "Where's Liv and Rollins?"

"Bathroom."

Cragen ran down the hallway and into the bathroom where he found Amanda helping Olivia out of the tub.

"We got her," he informed, "It's over, Liv. It's really over."

"Fin?" she asked; the sound of gunfire still ringing in her ears.

"He was wearing a vest."

Olivia felt her legs go weak. Everybody was okay and Lana was going to jail. Pena was dead and Olivia could finally begin to get her life back on track.

"It's over," Olivia whispered as Amanda and Cragen both helped her get comfortable in her bed.

Cragen nodded, "It's over."

Fin joined them in Olivia's room and gave Olivia a hug before letting the paramedics check him out. Cragen had to get back to the precinct to help Amaro with the interrogation of Lana and her crew. Amanda had stayed with Olivia and was now waiting for the moment when Olivia asked her to leave.

"Thank you," Olivia said out of nowhere.

"Olivia… you don't have to thank me…"

"Yeah, I do," she insisted, "Clearly I'm a mess. You were always willing to help. You were willing to stay the night with me."

"I still can," Amanda reminded.

Olivia shook her head no, "I think I'm okay now. Really."

Amanda didn't know if she believed her but, she didn't want to tell that to Olivia. "Are you sure? It'll just be one night. I don't mind."

"You can stay," Olivia said, "But I'm really going to be okay. Pena is dead and Lana is in jail and… I'm alive."

Amanda smiled as her eyes began to water. "You're the toughest person I know, Olivia Benson."

Olivia smiled, "I get that a lot."

Lana ended up getting twenty-five years in jail on the count of breaking into Olivia's house and conspiracy to commit murder. She was charged with the assault of Olivia since she had asked Pena to do the terrible crime.

Olivia could finally see the light at the end of the tunnel and in the end; all the pain and suffering she went through was worth it. She was stronger now in a sense and it made her even more determined to do her job; if that was at all possible.

**The End!**


End file.
